


Someone’s Waiting For You

by ShivaVixen



Series: Mominette AU [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug, Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Actual mentoring, Characters and tags added as the story goes on, Cloning Blues, Comic Book Science, Conner has three genetic donors, Conner is need of many hugs, Dolls AU, Family Feels, Fluff much fluff, Gen, Lila and Chloe are mentioned, Low sodium content, Marinette is the best mom, Mominette AU, One doll was hurt, Pseudo-Science, Timeline for ladybug got shifted to fit into Young Justice timeline, Tumblr inspired work, back of cereal box science, focus on family so they’re just background, good parenting, good parents, it okay to ask for help is the biggest lesson, lessons are learned, people aren’t perfect, plot is there I promise, set in between seasons 1 and 2 of young justice, the Kent’s are god tier parenting, the author is still coming to terms with their feelings for season three of MLB, the dolls are taking over due to cuteness, timelines are fun to mess with, well superhero tier parenting at least
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 62,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22064587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShivaVixen/pseuds/ShivaVixen
Summary: Having come clean about the shields, survived a worst case scenario, and rung in the new year, Conner finds himself still wanting a parent and Superman is still reluctant to be that parent. A quick look through the files on himself reveals a third donor, a Paris based superhero named Ladybug.As the saying goes, third time’s the charm.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Conner Kent | Superboy
Series: Mominette AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1642984
Comments: 264
Kudos: 1324
Collections: Best of Fanfiction





	1. Be Brave, Little One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChaoticNeutral](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticNeutral/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Chaton Noir](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18082925) by [ChaoticNeutral](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticNeutral/pseuds/ChaoticNeutral). 



> Happy New Year! I hope you enjoy this!

January 6th

It was an itch. Even though he had stopped using the shields and told everyone else, his need for some sort of parental guidance that wasn’t out of manipulation or bare basic interest was driving him up the wall.

Or that could be withdrawal symptoms. Black Canary had equated his use of them to be like taking steroids and a drug addiction, the fact that they had powered him up at the cost of his reason ... it wasn’t a perfect analogy but it was the closest to the feeling.

Either way, Conner was now back at the computer when he should have been sleeping and looking at the handful of files that Dick had gotten from Cadmus about him. He was looking at the readout about his donors again when he noticed something. 

_ Mitochondrial DNA Donor: Classified. See: Desmond Notes _

Conner stared at it. What the heck was Mitochondrial DNA and why would there be a separate section for it?

A quick glance online said that Mitochondrial DNA was found mainly in the mitochondria (duh, he thought) and was passed from mother to child. 

Mother to child.

He had a mother. Conner stared at the screen, then quickly back at the files Dick had gotten. They were already hacked, so it was the work of a moment to pull up Desmond’s notes about him. 

_ Due to the previous instability of the combination, the use of mitochondrial DNA from a third donor has been permitted. The small sample was used up, but the Ladybug DNA not only stabilized the other DNA, but was extremely compatible with both sets of DNA. Had we known how useful the sample was, we would have requested more, though the nature of Ladybug’s powers makes it difficult to obtain... _

Conner stopped reading. He had a name. Ladybug. Pulling up the internet, it was quick to reveal that Ladybug had been operating in Paris for a few years now, and due to the nature of her super villains, Paris and France as a whole had banned Superheroes from coming to help as well as banned Supervillains as well as those suspected of such.

He had a mother. Or at least a female genetic donor. Maybe Ladybug would ... not be distant or manipulative, though based on her most recent picture, she couldn’t be much older than Kaldur, so she could be weirded out by having a kid that looked her age.

“Third time’s the charm, right?” He asked the empty room. It didn’t answer.

He would need a plan to go find her and to get past the ban ... so he couldn’t be Superboy. Conner Kent did not have enough money for the trip ... and he probably should not be in a flying in a cramp tin can which left ... trying to convince the others to help him sneak into France.

No one was going to go for that. Not with his anger issues and the super villain Hawkmoth using those emotions to make akumas or whatever. He leaned back in his chair.

“What are you looking at?” 

Conner almost fell out of his chair. M’gann blinked at him. 

“I’m fine, it’s nothing. Really.” 

“You’re projecting. Your thoughts have been really loud.” She explained at his look. “It woke me up.”

“There’s a third donor. I have a mother-well, female donor.” Conner admitted. “I ... I want to meet her.” 

“Ladybug ...” M’gann looked over the open pages on the screen. “We’d have to go as civilians.”

“We?” Conner looked up hopefully. 

“We can go to one of the neighboring countries and enter that way. It’s pretty easy, and we have passports. We could go over spring break or Summer vacation ... lots of kids are traveling then.” M’gann looked at him. “Do you know what you’re going to say?”

“I don’t know...” he’d have a few months to plan, at least, and school and the team would be a good break.

* * *

March 14th- Spring break

He had no plan. No plan at all. None.

They were on a train from London to Paris and he was going to be violently ill from nerves. Or just violent, if the guy behind Conner kept chewing so loud.

He had less than a week to find Ladybug and tell her that he was made from genetic material that was stolen from her and he was hoping she’d be his mom.

M’gann gripped his hand. ‘It will be alright. You still have the team.’

‘I don’t know if I can handle this.’

“Nervous?” One of the train attendants asked as she passed by. “I can assure you the likelihood of being akumatized is quite low.”

“We’re trying to find his biological mother, our only clue is Paris.” M’gann explained.

“Oh. I hope you find her, then.” The attendant offered. “Do you need anything?”

Breathe. Be nice. “Unfortunately, I don’t think I could keep anything down right now, but thanks.” He knew his smile looked awful, but the attendant smiled politely.

“It’ll be alright. Some people are starting to call Paris the City of Miracles.” With that the attendant continued on.

Somehow that did not make Conner feel any better.

The trip was only a couple of hours, and Conner spent most of it being reassured by M’gann that she was still there.

They weren’t going to stay in Paris overnight during the week, Conner might have learned tricks to keeping his temper in check but he knew his emotions were going to be all over the place no matter what, so he was going to limit the amount of trouble he could get into and the amount of trouble he could cause for his mother.

The first day was mostly the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, two common landmarks in the past akuma battles.

There were some cheap Ladybug and Chat Noir merchandise in the louvre, along with copies of paintings that one T. Barbot had done, as well as mini statues (‘those are statuettes, Conner’) based on a statue he had done that was somewhere in the city.

They’d have to visit it at some point.

M’gann was still happily chattering about the Louvre when they had to head back to London. 

He hadn’t really expected to meet Ladybug that first day, but he had hoped ... he shook his head and refocused. 

The second day, the same attendant noticed them. M’gann had curled up next to him for some shut-eye.

“I thought you were staying in Paris to look for your mom?”

“My emotions are a mess as it is, I didn’t want my disappointment at not finding her to cause trouble.” Conner admitted.

“Fair enough, let me know if you need anything.”

The second day played out much like the first, exploring the famous landmarks. Frankly, the Arc de Triumphe was less impressive than he thought it would be, but M’gann was enjoying herself.

He went into the third day with a little less hope that they would be able to find her.

It was a rainy morning and he was in a foul mood that M’gann did her best to improve.The weather cleared up by the time they found the statue, though it was still mostly cloudy.

“What if she’s not here? She has a secret identity, so what if she was busy this week?”

“Then we come back until we do find her.” She hugged him.

Something exploded behind them and people started to scream and run. 

“What’s happening?” Conner started looking around.

A veritable tidalwave of Rats was coming their way. People were escaping into buildings save for one woman and child who seemed to have gotten stuck on ‘run’ without trying for buildings on either side. 

The woman tripped. Conner started running.

‘Conner, no, we can’t use our powers!’ M’gann yelled at him in his head.

‘Who needs powers to do the right thing?’ He ran for the woman, skidding to a stop and picking her up.

M’gann followed by scooping up the little girl. They both started to run. 

A man opened the door to his shop and started yelling for them to get in.

Conner ran in, helping the woman stand, M’gann quickly moved past him to hand over the child who was probably eight or so.

The man locked the door and pulled the curtain, which did nothing to hide the rats that suddenly were scratching at the windows.

This close, the man looked like he was built like a refrigerator.

“Upstairs, hurry!” A woman quickly ushered them back as the glass began to crack. 

Conner helped the mother up the stairs into the apartment upstairs. The shades were already drawn and the woman helped him guide the mother into the chair.

The man locked the door and moved a chair in front of it.

The little girl scrambled to her mother’s lap. M’gann hugged him and he heard the glass downstairs give way.

“Hello, I’m Sabine Cheng, that’s my husband Tom Dupain, are you two alright?” The English was fairly accented, the small dark haired woman looked between him and M’gann.

“We’re okay. Are they alright?” Conner looked at the mother and child. Now that he was actually looking he could see the woman was clutching a microphone and the child’s hair was cropped rather messily. (It looked like the kid had taken scissors to their hair.)

“They’re fine. Madam Chamack is a family friend.” She smiled. “Thank you for helping them.”

“We couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.”

“Thank you.” Madame Chamack looked at them. “My daughter and I thank you.”

The downstairs glass windows shattered completely, loud enough for everyone else to hear. The little girl shrieked, her mother shushed her.

“Monsieur Ramier is going to have to start at the beginning with therapy again.” Madame Chamack informed Madame Cheng in French, with a heavy sigh. “I think he was refusing to take medication this time.”

Conner decided not to comment, they apparently thought he couldn’t understand them.

“Poor man- Tom!” Madame Cheng called for her husband.

The rats were now scratching the door of the apartment. The door shifted on its hinges and Conner joined Tom Dupain making a slightly better barricade. Both of them ended up having to brace it.

* * *

Upstairs, unnoticed by the humans and aliens below, a doll stood up and stretched. 

Chaton Noir had been having a good nap. As the oldest of his mama’s creations, he did his best to guard the miracle box when mama was gone. Two of his younger siblings were still napping. 

He could feel the bad magic of the akuma downstairs. A quick scramble to the computer had the music Mama left for them switching to the news.

Monsieur Rat was at it again. This time he had a sentimonster Rat with him.

Chaton Noir shook his head before switching back to the music. Mama and Papa had things covered.

As he moved to the box’s hidden spot, he felt it. 

It was faint, but he felt Mama’s magic below. 

But Littlebug was back at Papa’s place. Ryuuko-Chan was with Kagami in Japan, Shell and Rena were with their parents, so were all the other dolls Mama had made for her champions. (They knew Mama made the dolls, but they thought it was by commission from Ladybug, who then gave them life.)

Mama had been careful not to bring the akuma dolls to life, she hadn’t wanted them to get hurt for looking like the akumas, and well, Manon being turned into Puppeteer the second had cemented her decision.

And his remaining two siblings were still sleeping, so who could be downstairs?

Chaton picked up a cookie Mama had left behind. It sounded like there were people downstairs. Grandpa and Grandma knew of their existence (Mama couldn’t hide the fact she was getting more food than she would actually eat. They didn’t know her powers came from ladybug, Grandma called it energy healing and got Mama books. They thought it was just a natural gift that she had.) but the rules were that they could only go down when no one was around.

Chaton fidgeted. What if it was a hurt sibling? It sort of felt hurt and torn ... like how Pik had been after that horrible girl had gotten hold of him. Mama had barely patched him together after that, and he was still prone to hiding in dark corners if strangers were near. 

That was it, a sibling had gotten hurt and had come looking for Mama for help. They must’ve gotten caught by the rats- no that wasn’t right, they all recovered when Mama’s cure was used, they all knew that, so if they were hurt in an akuma attack they would stay put. 

Unless they’d gotten hurt before the Akuma attack.

Chaton munched on the cookie. There was a pained yell from downstairs and then Mama’s cure was sweeping by.

The hurt and torn feeling remained. Mama would have to repair them.

Minimouse woke up with a soft squeak. Pik was up as well. Chaton brought them cookies to eat, and told them about the hurt sibling downstairs. He was going to go get them and sneak them here.

Pik couldn’t sense another sibling. Minimouse thought it was really faint.

It was probably because they were younger than he was that they couldn’t recognize Mama’s magic at this distance.

Chaton snuck down. Madame Chamack and her daughter left, but there was still two strangers who were buying pastries. Except one wasn’t a stranger. 

He was the source of Mama’s magic Chaton was feeling, and this close, oh, it was just like Pik being partially torn apart. 

This strange younger sibling needed Mama’s help. And he was in danger of leaving!

Chaton went to where Grandpa was pulling out a new batch of croissants for the afternoon and squeaked for attention, Grandpa looked shocked, but Chaton gestured to the younger sibling, then made the motions for Mama and repair. Chaton made sure to be insistent and repeat the signs, unlike Mama his grandparents didn’t always understand right away.

Grandpa nodded, and walked back out, suggesting the strange sibling stay so Mama could look him over.

Chaton was relieved that while the strange sibling was trying to leave, Mama arrived on her scooter. Chaton quickly scrambled back to a new hiding spot to observe.

* * *

Marinette was rushing. She’d forgotten to grab extra cookies when she left to go run a delivery for her parents, and now she had a slightly pouting Kwami who had just used two lucky charms.

In her defense, it was the first time she’d slipped up in years. 

She got back to the bakery, focused on two things, her pouting kwami and making sure Chaton hadn’t eaten all the cookies. 

“Marinette, you have a patient!” Her dad gestured to the two people standing there.

“Come on up!” Marinette gave a kiss to her mother and a quick hug to her father as she headed up the stairs.

Thankfully, they lived in a world of superheroes, so when her parents discovered the living dolls as well as the fact she could heal, which was mostly an accident as her dad had thrown out his back, and she’d healed it near instantly by touching him. All her mother had done was gush about her having her several times great grandmother’s ability to use healing energy. They didn’t actually tell anyone that her ability was the real deal, but occasionally they suggested her services to customers.

It was a nice side job. Though she still made more money with design commissions than healing.

Chaton nearly gave her a heart attack when she saw him standing in the open. She scooped him up and brought him back to her room.

Tikki rushed to plate of cookies and Marinette made sure Chaton was sitting so to block the direct line of sight. He was trying to get her attention but she wasn’t really focusing.

Until she turned around and realized she could feel her Magic in the rather confused (and oh so hurt, had someone tried to tear him in half?) teen boy in front of her.

Tikki said she could create human life as her powers got stronger, so Marinette’s mind jumped to the worst case scenario it could think of. 

“TIKKI! I did it again!”

“What?” The stranger blinked at her.

Chaton chose that moment as Tikki was giggling to launch himself with a cheer.

‘Little Brother’s home! Mama fix!’

“I’m sorry, what’s going on? And I’m bigger than you ...”

“You didn’t make him, Marinette.” Tikki flew up to him. “Someone else did.” Tikki was frowning slightly.

“Wait, you’re Ladybug?” The boy looked like he didn’t know how to react. “I ... you’re one of my genetic donors... I was looking for you ... I just ...”

Marinette hugged him before he could finish. His emotions, that she could feel through the connection with her magic, had been all over the place. 

“Take a deep breath, let it out ... better?” She pulled back. 

He nodded, and she guided him to the couch.

“Okay, let’s start at the beginning. I’m Marinette, also known as Ladybug, and I’ve only made a few dolls, like Chaton here, come to life.”

“I’m Conner, I’m also Superboy, a clone of Superman, but I found out that they also used two other donors to stabilize me, Lex Luthor and Ladybug. I-I know I’m not supposed to be here, but I had to find you. You’re technically the closest I have to a mother.” Conner explained. “There’s so much I want to tell you...”

Oh. Marinette blinked. He wanted a mother. If she couldn’t feel her magic in the boy, it would have been a lot more awkward for her, but she could feel it, and someone had hurt him. “I’m here. I’m listening. Oh, do you want some cookies or tea?” She remembered her manners. “Healing sessions usually take an hour or so, so we have that long before your grandparents come up to check on us.” Which, how was she supposed to present this to them? 

“I’m okay, I don’t know how...”

“Start at the beginning. Don’t leave anything out.”

“Okay, so I was created by a group called Cadmus as a counter measure against Superman if he ever stopped being a hero, but Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash found me and saved me- well, tried to, I kinda attacked them when they let me out and then I had to rescue them once Aqualad talked to me.” As Conner told his story, Marinette gently took his hand and focused on the damage she could feel.

There was a lot. More than she could do in just one session. It honestly hurt her a little, but she focused on the worst of it, soothing the burnt areas and straightening the frayed ones. She kept listening to his story.

“Superman didn’t want much to do with me, and so I reached out to the only other donor I was aware of, Lex Luthor, he gave me these things called shields that let tap into more of my kryptonian side and powers, but they made me really angry and reckless and I didn’t like how they made me feel in the long run. I came clean to the team and M’gann, she’s my girlfriend downstairs by the way, anyway she found out that I had trigger words implanted by Cadmus that she was able to remove. We were all worried about a mole but it wasn’t actually any of us but Roy, who wasn’t the original Roy, and that hit him pretty hard.” Conner blinked slightly as she frowned.

“That explains why it feels like you’ve been torn in half. Those shields also did some serious damage to your magic.”

“I have magic?” Conner asked, eyes lighting up.

“All my children do.” Marinette explained. “Their powers are usually based the powers that the hero they’re based on had. Chaton can destroy things but only small things, Littlebug is really lucky and can make things. Minimouse can make a couple duplicates of herself, but Pik ... Pik hasn’t been able to do what Scales does, which is see the future.”

“So, what can I do?”

“I don’t know, it looks like most of your magic went to keeping you alive.” Marinette tilted her head. “It’ll take a few more healing sessions before you’ll be able to use it, but there’s no telling what you’ll be able to do. You could just be really lucky, or you could be a healer. We won’t know for a while.” 

“I just have three more days before I have to go back.”

“Then you come back here tomorrow, and after a healing session, I show you Paris, and you tell me more about yourself. We have time to set up a way to keep in contact and work out a plan to keep healing.” Marinette couldn’t stop the yawn. “Sorry. Monsieur Rat is the most predictable akuma, but that doesn’t mean he’s easy.” 

“It sounded like he’s been akumatized before?”

“Monsieur Ramier is not a people person. He much prefers animals to people, the animals he likes are generally the ones most don’t like. He gets really upset when one of his animals gets hurt. He goes to therapy but just because he knows there’s a problem doesn’t mean he can change old habits easily.” Marinette shook her head. “Sorry, we’ve gotten off topic. How did you find out about me?”

“I was kinda feeling down so I went through the files about me, and I noticed that there was a third donor listed. I went through the notes and found your superhero name.”

“Can I get a copy of those notes?” Marinette asked. As soon as he left, she was calling Adrien, Max and Alya and getting to the bottom of this ‘Cadmus’ thing. There were laws against brainwashing another, they were the same laws that would hit Hawkmoth with slavery charges once he was caught. 

“Yeah ... you’re taking this better than I thought you would.” He brought out a usb.

“To be honest? You should have been here when Chaton was first made, I freaked out. Littlebug was a commission for a friend and I didn’t know I brought her to life until Mother’s Day.” She gave a very sheepish smile. “Tikki said eventually I might be able to make a fully functional human being with my magic. And you look like Dad and me, along with my magic... that’s all the proof I need.”

“Then why do you want the copy of the notes?” He asked as she put the usb by her computer.

“So I can take them to the Mayor and President and ask for an exception on the ban. I’d rather you not get arrested just for visiting me.” Marinette explained. “I do want you to comeback and visit, we’ll just need to figure out how much to tell the rest of the family.”

Arms suddenly wrapped around her. Marinette blinked and looked up at him as teardrops hit her head.

“Conner?” 

“Thank you.”

Chaton was purring as loud as possible and Marinette had to twist a little awkwardly in order to hug Conner.

“I’m here, it’s alright.” Marinette soothed. She was going to find the person in Cadmus that decided making child soldiers was a good idea and introduce them to her yo-yo. Conner might have been made with as much knowledge Cadmus could give him, but he had only been around for a year.

Master Fu might have chosen her in College, but she had had the option of tapping out back then. Conner didn’t seem to have that much.

At the very least, she could give Conner a chance at something other than crime fighting.

Minimouse was peeking out from her hiding place with Pik by the time they headed back down. 

* * *

Conner was relieved as he headed back down. The visit was better than he had hoped for, and she wanted him.

“That took a while, is everything alright?” His grandmother (not that she knew it) was talking with M’gann in the living room. Both looked up as they entered.

“He’s a mess. It’s like someone tried to remove his energy channels with a brûlée torch.” Marinette (his mom, he had a mom!) informed her. “I asked him to come back tomorrow, I can show them the city tomorrow as well.” 

“That sounds like a good idea, you haven’t been out to have fun in a while.” Sabine smiled at them. 

Conner lead the way out, and M’gann threaded her arm through his.

“So?” She asked as they walked away.

“That was my Mom. I told her pretty much everything.” Conner smiled. “You checked in on me a few times, you know what happened.”

“Not everything, I was just checking to see how you were feeling.” M’gann corrected.

“She wants me.” Conner smiled. “And I have siblings.” 

“I thought I felt other minds. What are they like?”

“I only met one, the other two were a little nervous... apparently the shields damaged my connection to my mother’s magic so they couldn’t sense it. The oldest was able to sense me from the beginning. He knew I was hurt.”

“Do her parents know...” 

“They know she has healing powers, and about the dolls. They don’t know she’s a hero, and they can’t know until Hawkmoth is dealt with. Apparently they’ve been akumatized before.” Conner hugged her close. “We get to spend the day with her tomorrow.” 

He almost couldn’t believe it. His mother said she wanted him!

Conner and M’gann decided to head back to London so they could get some rest.

* * *

Marinette, however was gearing up for war.

“I’m here Bugaboo, what’s up?” Her partner came through her skylight and de-transformed on her bed. Littlebug hopped off his shoulder and landed on the bed, Chaton brought them both cookies.

“I have a son.”

Adrien choked on the cookie. “Wha-? How?”

“Somehow some shady organization got Marinette’s DNA while she was Ladybug and used it to stabilize the Superman clone, Superboy.” Tikki informed them. The normally sweet Kwami looked furious. 

Plagg looked furious as well. “How?! They didn’t have permission!”

“I certainly didn’t give it.” Marinette agreed, passing her tablet with the notes so Adrien could read them.

Sass and Wayzz joined them. “We’re all in agreement, this cannot go unpunished.” Sass informed them, and Wayzz gently landed on Marinette’s shoulder.

“I’m calling Max and Markov, I want everything I can get on this ‘Cadmus’ and Lex Luthor.”

“Isn’t that overstepping a bit?” Adrien asked. “We said we would stay out of the world’s eyes and just focus on Paris and Hawkmoth.”

“And yet outsiders were the ones that took Ladybug’s DNA for a super soldier.” Sass scowled. “There are numerous spells that can be used with such things that carry DNA, and all are forbidden magic. It is a violation of the deepest order and is considered the worst offense by us.”

Marinette grimaced at the way Sass spoke. She was not happy about having her DNA stolen, but the way the Kwami phrased it made her skin crawl.

“We’ll just go after this Cadmus, right?” Adrien asked her, looking up from the tablet. 

“Mainly the ones that dealt with kidnapping and cloning.” Marinette admitted, “I don’t know enough about the organization as a whole and they aren’t wrong, and there have been heroes who became villains so having contingency plans for that possibility is a good idea, but this cloning is too far.”

“... they were seriously going to try and replace Superman with this- your- kid?” Adrien asked softly.

“They’ve done it successfully with a sidekick.” Marinette informed him. “No one noticed.” She needed Adrien to back her up on this, unlike the dolls that considered him ‘Papa’, Conner was not raised by either of them or their friends.

“...” Adrien held her gaze and nodded. “Then we deal with them, what’s your plan, Milady?”

Relieved that Adrien was behind her on this, Marinette began to outline her plan. 


	2. Make a wish for each sad little tear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonding happens, though it’s not all smooth sailing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not fond of Lila Rossi, and a little frustrated by the whole fumbling of whether or not Chloe was redeemable... both are mentioned in this chapter, so just a heads up.

Adrien returned to his room with Littlebug, and promptly fell into bed, ignoring Plagg’s ode to Camembert.

He loved Marinette, his lady was amazing, but she had a bad habit of doing the worst case scenarios first when planning before moving onto the simpler plans.

Her worst case scenario right now was having to completely take down Lex Luthor (a billionaire businessman that managed to not go to court on accusations of Supervillainy from Superman) and Cadmus, a mysterious organization that had ties to the government of the USA.

As cool as it would be to meet the League, Adrien was wary about expanding their attention to the rest of the world while Hawkmoth was still at large. It would be dangerous for them to get distracted now.

That said, his lady had his full support in adopting Superboy. It was kinda sad that Superman was an absent parent, and the other donor was manipulating. Adrien could empathize with that, and could also sympathize with wanting a mother figure, and his lady was already an amazing mom to the dolls, so adding Superboy to her number of children was not a problem.

“Wonder if he’ll like me.” Adrien murmured to Littlebug, who was already cuddled close. 

“Seriously?” Plagg asked, having heard. “You want to be the homonculus’ step-dad?”

“Don’t call him that!” Adrien scowled at Plagg. “And why shouldn’t I? Marinette’s practically adopted him already.” 

“...” Plagg stared at him. “Why aren’t the two of you married already?”

“We discussed it, but it would be far too stressful for Marinette, especially if there’s an akuma attack on the day. So we’ll have to wait until Hawkmoth is taken care of.” Adrien sighed. Marinette had had several points, and a presentation on why it would be better to first date other people (Kagami had been nice, but she was more interested in Fencing professionally and her career, with a family only happening after she won all those competitions. She was doing really well and on track for the next Olympics) and then focus on Hawkmoth before taking the next step.

Considering that his father occasionally realized he was dating and then insulted and vetoed his girlfriends, two of whom became akumas, Adrien had just given up on the whole dating thing. He wasn’t going to risk Marinette getting akumatized.

Thankfully, he and Marinette had ended up in the same Lycée track for management sciences, so he had been able to see her more than when he snuck out for patrols and akuma battles.

Adrien had made the mistake of signing the yearly modeling contract without thinking, which left his schedule too full to attempt to go to university. Marinette had gently hit him with the study guide for the unit on business contracts for not reading the dumb thing when Nathalie gave it to him. 

Which was ironic, because Marinette herself had decided to take a year or two off to help her parents at the bakery (and hopefully defeat Hawkmoth) before attempting to start her own career. 

Though technically, she was having a career, she was still designing for Jagged and even Clara, and Audrey Bourgeois always had a spot for an Marinette original during fashion week (and had commissioned dresses for the fall fashion season twice before). It just wasn’t a mass produced career.

Adrien has to fight back a grin. The fact Marinette hadn’t immediately gone to a design house had caught a lot of attention. Marinette had ‘explained’ that the akuma attacks tended to throw her schedule off and all that had done was have people applauding her artistic temperament and had garnered her more attention by the fashion world. He’d even heard his dad complaining about her not applying for Gabriel.

The instant Hawkmoth was down, he was not signing the next year’s modeling contract, moving away from this mansion and convincing Marinette to marry him. 

So he needed her son to like him and hopefully want a stepdad... or at least, not mind having a stepdad.

... Maybe there was a book for this? Adrien hoped there was. 

* * *

March 17th

Conner stared out the window, it was supposed to get less nerve wracking after he found his mother, not more.

M’gann and the attendant found it amusing.

They’d set an arrival time that theoretically meant his mom would be wide awake already but discovered that his mother was not a morning person when she walked into a door frame.

“Give me five minutes, I’ll wake up.” Marinette assured them both. And then Conner had to catch her as she tripped over a bag.

That on second glance was upside down and had doll legs sticking out from under it.

Marinette rolled her eyes and scooped up the bag to reveal a very sheepish Chaton and a grey and pink doll that was hiding behind him and holding a croissant. “Can you take these two upstairs? I still need coffee.” She nearly walked into the counter. M’gann rescued her that time.

“She’s really not a morning person, huh?” Conner asked the two dolls as they went upstairs. 

Chaton shook his head. ‘Mama likes nights. She was busy talking to Papa.”

“Papa?”

‘Looks like me, Littlebug lives with him.’

Chat Noir, his mother’s partner. Conner was surprised.

“What were they talking about?”

‘Secrets! And Mama making plans. Mama has plans for plans!’

... That sounded like his mom was a tactician like Batman.

Chaton hopped out of the bag, taking the croissant and running to the bed. ‘Pik! Food!’

Unfortunately, this left a slightly scared pink and grey doll behind. 

“Hey, I’m Conner.” Conner gently set the bag down on his mom’s desk. 

‘... Hi ...’ compared to Chaton’s ‘voice’, hers was a soft whisper. ‘I’m Minimouse.’

“Do you want some help?” Conner offered his hand.

Minimouse fidgeted, before cautiously climbing onto his hand. He gently lifted her out of the bag.

“Where do you want to go?”

‘... bed, please...’ she was gripping his wrist as tight as she could. 

He carried her over to the bed, and noticed that Chaton was breaking pieces off the croissant for a third doll in colors of green and blue.

With his super vision, Conner noticed that the doll had extra seams compared to the others, and the mouth looked a little lopsided. This must be Pik.

“What happened?” Conner asked.

Pik jerked back, and dove behind the pillow. Minimouse rushed over, taking the croissant from Chaton and followed Pik.

Logically, Conner knew that they couldn’t sense him as well as Chaton so that left them wary of him, but that didn’t stop the feeling of rejection he got from the two tiny dolls running away.

If he had known that the shields were going to damage his connection to his biological family, he wouldn’t have used them.

Chaton hugged him and purred. ‘It’s okay. They’ll come around. I promise.’

“What happened to Pik?” Conner sat down on the couch, still holding Chaton. He wasn’t sure he believed the doll just yet.

‘Bad girl kidnapped him, tore him apart, Papa found out, got really mad, scared Pik, Mama ... Mama repaired Pik first. Had us guard Pik while she joined Papa in making sure bad girl was sent away.’

“What?” Conner didn’t quite follow the explanation.

“Her name was Lila Rossi, a diplomat’s kid that lied ... and willingly let her self be akumatized several times. I managed to find footage of three times.” His mother had come up. “Last year of college, I decided to make dolls for the champions I had chosen, but who Hawkmoth had discovered so I couldn’t call on them again.”

Marinette pulled out pictures of several other dolls, and then what had to be reference photos of the heroes the dolls were based on.

“I used Multimouse to hide my identity, so I made her ... then I realized I should cover my partner and made Pik. I had chosen him for a miraculous prior to our reveal to each other, so it was a good cover. But Lila ... She didn’t know the dolls were alive. She stole Pik from his locker and well, got a pair of scissors. I guess she planned to try and frame another girl.”

Marinette looked at him sadly. “My partner caught her in the act. He was furious, though he managed to briefly think clearly enough to get a picture so he could report her to the principal for vandalism.” She gently rubbed Chaton’s head. “Pik was pretty traumatized, even after I healed and patched him together, he wasn’t comfortable staying with my partner. He’s gotten better, he’ll sit next to my Partner now without any cajoling.”

“Chaton said you helped your Partner deal with her?” Conner asked softly.

“Anonymous tip to the police to check the security cameras.” She sighed. “Also I called her mother’s office, which caused more trouble, her mother had to send her out of the country due to the fact she was willing to aid Hawkmoth. I could tolerate her attacks on me, but hurting Pik ... that was the last straw.” She crossed her arms. “It might have been petty or overkill, but I had to stitch him back together and feel the damage... I just ... I couldn’t take the high road.”

“I don’t think that was petty.” Conner offered. “Petty would have been attacking her as Ladybug. She was willing to hurt others, so she needed to be stopped.”

“I’m glad you think so.” She put the pictures away. “I’ve known for a while that Chaton’s magic is strong compared to the others, but I may have underestimated how strong.”

“I can’t hear Minimouse very well.” Conner admitted as she sat down next to him. “I can’t hear Pik at all.”

“That’ll get better, I wasn’t kidding when I told mom that it was like someone had tried to remove your energy channels with a brûlée torch. Right now I’m trying to heal the damage before I can start strengthening them.” Marinette paused. “Which reminds me, Grandpere Roland was working on the family tree before he passed, we had a few members flee the country around the First and Second World Wars that went to America, we might be able to claim you as a distant cousin so Mom and Dad don’t question your future visits. What do you think? I mean, we could tell them part of the truth, but they might worry about someone stealing my DNA and that would cause problems for the whole secret identity part of things.” 

“... I... I don’t know.” Conner was a little overwhelmed at either idea. “I guess ... a distant cousin?”

“You don’t have to choose right away, we’ve still got time to decide.” Marinette assured him. “I scheduled an appointment with the President and the Mayor for this weekend for allowing you to be an exception to the ban.”

“... Chaton wasn’t kidding when he said you had plans for plans.” Conner felt a bit overwhelmed. How did she come up with all this since yesterday afternoon?

“Oh, sorry! Am I going too fast? I didn’t mean to, I just wanted to give you options ...” Marinette looked flustered at that.

“No, I just ... I keep thinking that this is a dream that you want me.” Conner explained.

Somehow, he was not expecting her to hug him again.

“I’ve technically been a mother since I was fourteen and made Chaton.” Marinette gently reminded him. “Conner, I know this may be a lot for you to process, and I know you’re probably used to being without a parent, but I’m here if you need me. I might not make it to the phone as soon as it rings, but I will be here to pick it up.”

Chaton was purring like a motor engine, and Conner felt something hug his leg. As much as he wanted to linger in his mother’s hug, he couldn’t help but look down to see Minimouse hugging his leg.

She ran off as soon as she noticed him looking, and Marinette giggled at his double take at seeing a second Minimouse watching from Pik’s hiding spot.

“I told you, she makes duplicates of herself.” Marinette smiled. “Now, let’s get you patched up.”

* * *

M’gann played on her phone as she waited for Conner and his mother, it was almost hard to believe how lucky they’d gotten, but Marinette was nice, and was taking steps to help Conner.

The family was nice and welcoming. It was all a little... she was almost terrified that something would go wrong.

It seemed something had, one of Conner’s siblings couldn’t feel him through their magic and was scared of him. M’gann notified Marinette who had woken up fully and headed up to help Conner. 

The minds of the dolls were simplistic, children’s minds. All were loyal to their mother, a fierce devotion that was familiar and reminded her of Conner’s loyalty to the team.

Only one was already just as devoted to Conner as they were their mother. The other two ... one was hesitant and the other was scared of Conner and the world outside the room. 

There was also the other mind that M’gann didn’t touch. The Kwami, Tikki. Her existence was mostly hidden by Marinette’s, M’gann had to really concentrate to even sense it. She really didn’t want to actually look into the tiny god-like being’s head.

M’gann looked up as Conner and Marinette finally came down.

“Ready? I’ve got a few places you might like, and I would like to swap stories.”

Marinette beamed at them as they stepped outside. “So, that’s the college I went to. Our system is a little different from the American one, college is roughly equivalent to your middle school and first year of high school. Lycée is only three years.” She explained. 

That’s how the tour started. M’gann enjoyed it a lot, especially when it lead to a wax museum. There was a bit of a crowd, and a group of teen girls that were taking nonstop pictures, but no one paid any attention to Marinette giving a tour of her own.

“And this room has been dedicated for the heroes and famous Akumas.” Marinette explained. “Unfortunately, due to certain events, all those save Ladybug, Chat Noir and the mysterious Bunnyx had their identities revealed to Hawkmoth so we can’t use them again.” She added in a lower tone.

“There’s two statues for Ladybug and Chat Noir.” M’gann noticed. 

“Yes, as the heroes got older, their costumes changed.” Marinette smiled.

The most obvious change was to the Ladybug costume, there were now black spaces, making the red areas look more like armor, instead of the one piece spandex.

“It kinda looks like Ladybug was wearing footy pajamas.” Conner pointed out.

“Yes, well, there was panicking during the first transformation and I didn’t realize I could change it until after a couple of years.” Marinette admitted.

“Is that why your hair is shorter as Ladybug?” M’gann noticed.

“Yeah, it’s a neat trick.” Marinette smiled.

“Not much changed for Chat Noir ... there’s a bit more green though.” Chat Noir’s features had matured more than his outfit had changed. “The top looks more like a jacket though.”

“He likes to say he didn’t have to improve on ‘purr-fection’.” Marinette chuckled. “So the other heroes are Rena Rogue, Carapace, Queen Bee, who were the main team on heroes day. The others are Ryuuko, Pegasus, Viperion, and Roi Singe which is King Monkey.” 

Conner promptly made a face at the last one. 

“He doesn’t like monkeys.” M’gann giggled. 

“I’ll make sure to keep Xuppu away from him then.” Marinette smiled.

Tikki giggled at that from her spot in Marinette’s purse. “Look who’s on their shoulders!”

Each of the auxiliary heroes had a tiny figure on their shoulders in pink and grey.

“Minimouse?”

“Multimouse, actually.” Marinette corrected. “They had to work from blurry security footage.”

A group of teens passed by giggling.

“Now we move onto the Akumas, that’s Monsieur Pigeon, what Monsieur Rat used to turn into.” Marinette proceeded to tell them about each akuma that was on display, she knew them all, as well as why they became akumas. 

Conner was hanging onto every word. M’gann enjoyed the stories as well. 

“They’ve decided to have the akumas rotate, and this is the last year that they’rehaving the other heroes as well.” Marinette informed them.

“Why?”

“Ladybug and Chat Noir have been using multiple miraculous lately to combat Hawkmoth. Since they haven’t called on other heroes in a while, the museum is going to retire them for now. But as for why- well, that has to do with Queen Bee.” Marinette sighed. “She wasn’t supposed to get the miraculous, I was taking it to a different candidate but it was knocked out of my hands. She found it and tried to prove herself as a hero by derailing a train and outing her own identity. When I took it back from her, I didn’t plan on giving it back. The problem was that when Heroes day and the mass akumazation occurred, she was the one who had experience with it, so I called on her again.” 

“It didn’t go well, I take it?”

“She and the other two ended up akumatized. And Hawkmoth had used her family to akumatize her that time, so I told her I was going to stop using her. She didn’t take it well. And somehow was surprised when I actually stuck with not giving it to her.” Marinette shook her head. “Anyway, Hawkmoth convinced her to use the miraculous he’d stolen from the Guardian and that allowed her to control all those I’d previously chosen and reveal themselves to Hawkmoth. I can’t risk their families so I can no longer call on them. It’s rather frustrating.” Marinette sighed. “We’re good as a two person team, but we’re just ... it’s an even match right now between us and Hawkmoth and Mayura.”

“I could help. At least I would like to help.” Conner volunteered. “If-when you lift the ban on me I could give you the extra muscle.”

“I was trying to give you a safe place where you had the option not to fight.” Marinette half-heartedly objected. M’gann couldn’t blame her, it sounded like they needed the help, but previous events had forced them to be on their own. 

M’gann still wasn’t 100 percent perfect with human social interactions, but she grabbed Marinette’s hand and smiled when she looked over.

“You said earlier that you had time to decide, right? So we don’t have to think about it now. And I really want to try that ice cream you mentioned.” M’gann grinned. 

“She’s right Marinette, Conner, you two have time to work out how this will go. We can even give it a trial run later.” Tikki suggested. “And I want some ice cream too!” 

Marinette and Conner shared a look and a small smile.

“Alright, Alright, We’ll talk more about this later. Besides, I want to hear more about your adventures, I think I’ve talked enough about myself.” Marinette promised.

“Okay, but one last question.” Conner glanced back at the heroes. “Did you make a Queen Bee doll?”

“... I started to, but I had to stop. I was thinking about making her the doll to give her a chance to earn some redemption, but I just ... I don’t know if she would have been responsible enough. And then after Pik was hurt ... I couldn’t justify putting the doll into a home that could be dangerous or neglectful.” Marinette admitted. “I still have the fabric cut out, and there’s a part of me that thinks I should make the doll, but I’m not sure for who.” Marinette gave a shrug.

“Okay.” Conner hesitated a moment. “So, what’s special about this ice cream cart?”

“The man that runs it is named Andre, and he picks the flavors for you based on your true love.” Marinette smiled. “It’s silly, but fun. He has a high rate of success, but he can be a little over bearing at times. Now about your adventures?”

M’gann launched into the tale of their first stealth mission and how much trouble they had had because they hadn’t chosen a leader yet. Conner was on the other side of Marinette as they walked, occasionally chiming in with corrections.

“So you can link people’s minds together?”

“Yes, but if I’m knocked out they need normal communication units to speak.” 

“There’s always a drawback. Ah, there he is.” Marinette gestured. 

“Ah, Marinette! It’s good to see you!” The man greeted her. “I never forget a love, any luck?” He very quickly scooped out some ice cream for her.

“Regrettably we had to take a break to sort out what we wanted and what we needed before we went any further.”

The man smiled. “Ah, that is wise, ice cream and love both need time to reach the right consistency before one can enjoy. And who are your friends?”

“They helped Madam Chamack escape the rats, so I offered to show them the things a regular tourist might miss.”

“Ah! Young sweethearts! Allow me! Mint, chocolate and strawberry! Enjoy!”

M’gann blinked at the ice cream she and Conner were given. Marinette paid and led them to some benches.

“He didn’t ask our order.” Conner managed as Andre started singing for a few other couples.

Marinette giggled. “Sweetheart ice cream, he makes it for couples to share. He’s got very good ice cream, though. Try it.”

It was good ice cream. Though midway through Conner nearly inhaled the spoon.

“Are you okay?” Marinette asked.

M’gann caught where his thoughts were going and giggled. “He just realized he brought me to meet his mother and the remembered the usual connotations such a meeting has for this planet.”

“Ah, yes, I expect you both to finish high school first before deepening your relationship, but other than that,” Marinette shrugged with a smile. “I’m glad you’re together.”

Conner was turning red from the conversation, so M’gann quickly changed the topic. “So, back to our adventures.” They spent more time talking and just walking around, and eventually it was time to leave.

M’gann was almost sorry they had decided to stay in London for the trip. Marinette gave them both hugs before they entered the train station.

‘So ... what do you think?’ Conner asked.

‘I think she’s amazing. She’s a little used to protecting the dolls, but she’s refraining from using the same instinct for you because she knows you’re not helpless. She really has a deep bond with her partner, too, and she’s worried about him, so I think his family life might not be too stable. And those were just her surface thoughts.’ M’gann looked at him. ‘I know we want to put off decisions until after we’re done here, but we do need to think about what we should tell the team.’

‘I know... is it bad that I don’t want the adults to know? I just... if they find out before the ban is modified, they may stop me from seeing her.’

‘We can tell the team, but wait to tell the adults?’ M’gann offered.

‘First thing when we get back.’

* * *

Marinette flopped into bed with a groan. “I don’t want him to feel obligated to help me fight! I know he’s a superhero too, but I... gah!” Rain hit the skylight, hopefully it wouldn’t be raining in the morning.

“Marinette, he offered first. And Hawkmoth is finally improving his akumas, so you need to start thinking about allies.” Tikki reminded her. “You should wait until his magic has healed before giving him a Miraculous, but he can still help with battles once he’s allowed past the ban.”

“I know that.” Marinette sighed. “Hey sweetie, are you okay?” Pik had emerged to cuddle with her. Minimouse and Chaton had a movie playing on her computer. It sounded like a Star Wars marathon.

‘Is he really our brother?’ Pik’s ‘voice’ was quiet and almost drowned out by the sound of the movie.

“Yes, he is.” Marinette assured him.

The doll rocked slightly. ‘I can’t feel him. Am I broken?’

“No sweetie. Conner just needs time to heal before you can feel him.” Marinette promised. “You’re as strong as you need to be.”

Pik cuddled closer. ‘He’s coming back tomorrow, isn’t he?’

“Yes, he is.” Thunder boomed and Pik flinched. Marinette gently rubbed circles on his back.

If it kept raining she might rethink her plans for the day. Tikki curled up next to her, and Marinette fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Pik is the doll made to resemble Aspik.
> 
> I’m still debating if I should do anything else with the two girls or just leave them for the sequel. They’re not crucial to this story save as Backstory.


	3. Hold your head up, though no one is near

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which plans are made and enacted, and the plot moves forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did a bunch of research on the French school system and how Lycée works (and differs from the American high school), then I just threw it to the side save for the vague explanation because it was slowing down the plot.
> 
> If more information is wanted, check the link in the end notes.

Sometimes, it was like the universe just waited for Adrien to get comfortable and then hit from behind.

An emergency photo shoot because a piece had been redesigned for whatever reason. The annoying part was that it was in London.

Oh, and they left in thirty minutes, hurry up and get ready.

Adrien scooped up Littlebug and her box of craft supplies, the tiny doll made an indignant noise. “I know sweetheart, but it’s not safe for you to be alone here.” Not with his dad’s recent comments on focusing on adult interests instead of childish ones. He really got the feeling that he might come back to find anything his father considered childish to be removed from his room.

He quickly transformed and jumped out the window, rushing to his partner’s home and trying to keep from slipping on wet buildings. At least the rain was light, barely sprinkling.

This was also not how he wanted his first meeting to go with Superboy, jumping into Marinette’s room while they were talking and interrupting. It probably looked like he was just dumping Littlebug on his Lady without much warning. (Unless he spoke French, but Adrien had forgotten to ask if he did, and right now there was no time to do more than wave and nod in greeting.)

“Chat, what’s wrong?”

“Emergency trip, and Father’s been commenting on removing ‘childish things’ so I can’t take her with me.” He explained quickly. Littlebug still wasn’t happy, but gave him a kiss goodbye, as did the other dolls. “I might not be able to take her back for a bit, either ... I don’t want to go.”

“I know, we know, but there’s not much we can do about that contract of yours right now.” She kissed his cheek. “Be safe, Minou.”

“Promise!” He kissed her cheek as well and then with another wave to Superboy, he quickly took off back to his house so he could jump in the shower.

That was not how he wanted his first meeting with his lady’s son to go.

* * *

Conner had watched the quick scene in slight bafflement. What sort of family made their kid sign a contract?

(Luthor’s family, his mind offered almost immediately, but Conner shoved that thought away.)

“Does that happen often?” He asked instead. His mom hadn’t seemed completely surprised.

“The so called emergencies? Yes. The threatening to remove anything childish? That’s new and most unwelcome.” Marinette put the box on her desk. “Anyway-“ the doll that was Littlebug suddenly dove into the box, startling his mother, and pulled a piece of paper out.

‘Little brother, a gift from me!’ She was as loud as Chaton. She brought the paper over to him.

It was a mess of glitter and glue, but in the center was a collection of stick figures with blocky clothes ... and the center one was wearing black with a red ‘s’.

“Thank you, Littlebug.” He managed. His vision blurred slightly, and he had to rub his eyes to keep them dry.

“Who’s all in the picture, Littlebug?” His mother asked.

‘Mama’ Littlebug pointed to a figure in red and black that was next to his stick figure, ‘Little brother, and Papa,’ she pointed them out, ‘Me, Chaton, Mini, and Pik! Do you like it?’ She asked him.

“I do, thank you.” Conner was getting used to getting hugs from the dolls; giving one however, he didn’t want to hurt Littlebug, so he did his best to copy what he had seen his mother do, wrapping his arm around Littlebug and holding her close.

‘Yay!’ Littlebug returned the hug. ‘I draw more!’ She wiggled free and rushed back to her art box, a duplicate of Minimouse joining her.

“As I was saying, it looks like it’s going to be fairly rainy today, so we could just stay here and talk, and unfortunately we do need to at least figure out how to stay in contact before you go.” Marinette sighed. “Setting up a way to continue your healing sessions, for one thing. Want to call M’gann up?”

“Okay-“

“Physically call her up, Conner, she’s chatting with my mother.” Marinette tapped him on the shoulder. “You ever play Mecha Strike?”

“I tend to break the controllers.” Conner admitted.

“That’s okay. You just need practice.”

Conner was expecting a lot of things from meeting his mother. Playing video games with her, his girlfriend, his doll siblings and a Kwami was not one of them.

Tikki suddenly flew into his mother’s hair, abandoning M’gann in the middle of their combo.

“I brought snacks!” Tom Dupain had a tray of pastries. “Can I play... uh, sweetheart?” He noticed the dolls out.

Marinette touched M’gann’s shoulder for a moment, the two having a quick mental conversation before smiling. “It’s okay, Megan’s like me, only she’s a telepath!” She explained.

“I could hear other minds, I just couldn’t figure out where they were.” M’gann looked embarrassed.

“Ah, okay!” Tom nodded. “So can I play winner?”

Conner blinked in confusion. That was it?

Tom noticed his confusion. “There are superheroes with all sorts of powers, it’s not hard to believe that there are civilians who have powers that choose not to wear spandex. Marinette made a few dolls come to life, telepathy isn’t that hard to accept after that.” Tom only stayed for a couple rounds and then left.

“Sorry about that, I really should have planned for that possibility.” Marinette apologized to M’gann. “I didn’t mean to put you on the spot.”

“It’s okay, they don’t know you’re ladybug, right?”

“Unfortunately, every so often Hawkmoth mass akumatizes Paris. Dad’s gotten caught by that twice. If he knew ... it wouldn’t end well.” Marinette sighed. “I was relieved that when these secondary powers developed, they had a connection to something my mom already knew about which meant they wouldn’t question me being odd. And with all the superheroes in the world and me more interested in designing than fighting... it let them be more open minded.” Marinette gave a wry smile. “I usually put on much more of a show for healing, play up the ‘ancient Chinese secrets’ bit.”

Minimouse made two duplicates to hug her mother.

“Secret identities are really important.” Tikki flew over to land on Conner’s shoulder. “Marinette can’t reveal herself to anyone unless they figure it out first. You’re an exception because her magic is part of you, and M’gann figured it out from your reaction when she was checking on you.” Tikki looked at M’gann. “I can feel it when you try to gauge my wielder’s mind, I know you were worried about Conner, but I would like you to stop. It was a difficult thing to decide, but Chat Noir’s identity must remain a secret from both of you to keep some secrets safe, especially if your mother falls in battle.” Tikki informed them. “Please promise me that you won’t try to read or tamper with Marinette’s mind without permission.”

“I promise.” M’gann agreed.

“Thank you.” Marinette smiled. “Now I do have some more questions that might be uncomfortable for you ... namely, do you mind if I go talk to Superman?”

“Why?” Conner put the controller down so he didn’t break it.

“One, so he’s aware of my existence and that I’m going to be in contact with you... and so I can more easily call on you for backup if my government does allow you to be an exception. I don’t want to take you away from your team when they need you. I know you’re happy with them. I’m not part of the league and have very little interest in joining even if Hawkmoth gets defeated, though I won’t stop being Paris’s superhero.” Marinette explained. “I don’t want you in a position where you feel you have to choose, especially as you’ve worked so hard to be recognized by the League.”

“... I know his real name is-“ Conner was cut off by the Kwami stopping him from talking.

“No! Who someone tells their identity to is their choice unless their identity has been figured out. We just talked about this.” Tikki scolded him. Marinette quickly signaled for him to give the Kwami a cookie.

“Sorry.” Conner passed the Kwami one of the odd sandwich cookies his mom called macarons. “So ... what do I say?” He did have Superman’s last name, one of the few things that Superman accepted about him. His mother would figure it out pretty quick. 

“Where is the most likely place for me to find him if he’s not at the league?” Marinette suggested.

“... Metropolis, especially the Daily Planet building.” Conner suggested.

His mother nodded in consideration. “Do you want me to wait until after you’ve returned to the US to meet him?”

“Sort of?” Conner wasn’t sure. On the one hand, he wanted to know what they talked about. On the other hand... he was grateful that she was trying to keep him out of the potential conflict as much as possible, he was tired of being the one that had to reach out. “I don’t know.”

“Think about it- Ah!” Marinette suddenly grabbed Chaton who was carrying some sort of horror video game. “No, Chaton, you know it scares Pik.”

‘Please mom?!’ Chaton proceeded to give her very effective kitten eyes.

“No.” Marinette frowned at him.

‘... sss...’ It sounded like a breath or whisper. Conner’s head jerked to look at Pik, who had stuck his head out from his hiding spot. The instant he noticed Conner looking, the young doll hid again.

‘Little brother, did you hear Pik?’ Littlebug looked at him hopefully.

“I’m not sure.” Conner admitted. “I hope so.”

Littlebug just hugged him as Chaton tried to pick out a murder mystery game this time.

* * *

Across the city, a university student was about to be rudely awakened after a late night of coding.

“Do not touch that!”

Max groaned as he woke up. Markov was scolding Marengo for something already. The Pegasus doll, named for Napoleon’s horse because Max had been studying for a history test, was not technologically savvy but he was insatiably curious about everything. Normally that meant Markov got to be the responsible one.

Other times, it meant Markov would chase Marengo around the apartment while yelling.

‘Max Kante, former hero, university student, IT support worker, and single father of two.’ That was a wonderful start to a resume. He covered his head with his blanket, debating about staying in bed.

Something crashed, and Max got up to see what it was.

His search lead him to the kitchen where both of his ‘kids’ were apparently trying to make him breakfast. There was a knife and broken plate on the floor, and slightly charred toast on the counter.

“Max! You are awake early!” Markov tried to move in front of Marengo. It had apparently been a team effort, which explained both the yelling and why something broke.

“Loud noises tend to do that, everything alright?” He picked up the knife and the two halves of the plate. It looked like Marengo had been trying to dice fruit as well.

“Yes Max. Your hacking program found a hole in the Cadmus firewall last night, it is now searching the files for the specified keywords. Do you wish to add anymore parameters?”

“Not at this moment, no. Has Cadmus detected anything?”

“No Max.”

“I’ll finish up the virus this morning.” Max smiled as the coffee machine beeped and Marengo quickly brought him a cup. “Have we gotten any information yet?”

“The first drive is filled, I had to upgrade to a larger storage drive.” Markov reported.

Max choked on the coffee, much to Marengo’s concern. “I might have to refine the keywords and Parameters...”

He’d only had four keywords: cloning, Ladybug, Superman and Lex Luthor. He’d used a five hundred gigabyte drive to begin with. How many files could there possibly be?

If it filled up the terabyte drive, they were in trouble. He might have to create his own petabyte drive with any spare Terabyte drives he could get.

Thankfully he’d already finished his projects for university this semester, this project for Ladybug was looking like it might take up more time than he initially calculated.

“We’ll go over the already gathered files after breakfast.” Max decided. Hopefully he could thin them out as they went.

As long as their luck held, he might even have the evidence Ladybug needed by the end of the week, and then his virus would do the rest.

It was probably not remotely legal to hack some foreign governments secret weapons lab and then hit it with a virus, but it was less legal to steal DNA to make living weapons when said foreign government had agreed with the UN that brainwashing fell under slavery and was therefore considered a human rights violation.

Max had done the math with the handful of files that Ladybug had given him. Ladybug’s mitochondrial DNA had most likely been stolen while she was fourteen or fifteen and all they would need was a few strands of hair.

He remembered from a few videos that occasionally panicking children would grab her hair on accident when she jumped or swung while holding them.

Alya still ran the Ladyblog. It had gone through updates and upgrades through the years, but she still had copies of all the ladybug footage that people had sent her over the years. Hopefully Ladybug would contact her to ascertain when her DNA had been stolen.

A touch on his arm had him smiling down at Marengo. He had been disappointed when Ladybug had told him that because of Chloe his identity had been revealed to Hawkmoth and she couldn’t risk him or his family; he had then been honored when she had given him the Pegasus doll, explaining she had commissioned him from Marinette and then Ladybug herself had given it some magic to bring it to life. The little doll was proof that Ladybug had faith in him and wasn’t completely abandoning him as an ally.

Grant it, he had gotten several years removed from his lifespan when he discovered that Marengo could teleport short distances, but that was worth it.

Max gently patted Marengo’s head, before gently tugging on the yarn braids. “I’m okay.” Max assured him, and Markov bumped against his shoulder. Max gently patted him too. “I’m okay, I promise. Let’s make breakfast together.” 

He’d finish the virus, start going through the files, and have something to report to Ladybug tonight.

* * *

Those who had been in Madam Bustier’s class when Hawkmoth, Ladybug and Chat Noir had debuted had been scattered when it came time to move to Lycée, either by physical distance because they went to different ones, or due to the fact that the various tracks meant their schedules no longer met up. 

Chloe Bourgeois and Sabrina had ended up at the same place and had pretty much disappeared from the others lives, much to the majority’s relief. 

Much to no one’s surprise Max had managed to test into the final year of Lycée in the computer sciences, meaning he had ended up at university faster than the rest. Marinette and Adrien had managed to end up in the same classes, while Alya, Nino, Alix and Kim also were in the same Lycée, but their various tracks kept them busy.

Rose, Juleka, Ivan, Mylene and Nathaniel had ended up in another Lycée entirely, but Rose and Alya has kept in touch, revealing the heartbreaking news that during their second year in Lycée, Mylene and Ivan broke up.

It had been a mutual break up, brought on by conflicting schedules but it had been a wake up call that things were changing.

Then Alya and Nino broke up. That had been more of a shock, even though the two had started arguing with each other prior to the break up regarding almost everything.

Having been previous heroes, Nino and Alya had also been given dolls by Ladybug, and had been raising them together. Shell and Little Rena had been heartbroken when their ‘parents’ had split, meaning that they were split as well. Nino’s DJ career had picked up quite well, and Alya was happily interning at different news places when openings became available. It left both dolls quite lonely... until Little Rena learned how to work her mother’s desktop computer and began video ‘chatting’ with her brother.

They never stayed on long, but it was better than being alone all day.

Tonight, little Rena logged off, only to get surprised by another call, this one with the I.D. of Ladybug.

She had fond memories of her creator, the warmth that infused her as she first moved. Little Rena hit accept.

“Al- little Rena, hello! Is your mother home?” Her creator smiled at her.

Little Rena shook her head, but made the motions of the analog clock her mother had.

“She’ll be back soon? Alright, how have you been doing?”

Little Rena started to assure Ladybug she was fine, before remembering she wasn’t allowed near her brother anymore.

Little Rena grabbed her crayon and a piece of paper so she could show it to her Creator.

“You miss Shell... have you told your mother?”

Little Rena shook her head. Her mother was a good mother, but absent almost all day. She usually came home tired and they would cuddle as they watched movies. Her mother was also getting better at being a mother, now that she had to spend one on one time with Little Rena.

“You should tell her, or perhaps leave hints? Drawings for example?”

Little Rena hesitated, then made an illusion of her missing brother. 

“That works too.”

“Little fox, I’m- Ladybug?!” Her mother came in and looked shocked. “Shell? What are you doing here?” The illusion dissolved as soon as her mother touched it, and her mother looked horrified.

“Alya, Little Rena was showing off her illusion ability. It’s pretty good, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, it is.” Her mother’s voice strengthened. “So, what can I do for you, Ladybug?” Rena hugged her in apology, earning a hug in return.

“Bit of an odd favor, but I need you to go through your old footage, the stuff you got back in College? And look for all the times someone pulled my hair.”

“Okay, why?” Her mother kept her close as she jotted down a quick note.

“I’m afraid that’s classified at the moment. I’ll be contacting you for the footage in a couple days.” Her creator explained. 

“Okay, and I’m guessing that you want this off the blog?”

“That would be preferable. I will of course give you an exclusive interview for your blog to compensate your hard work and your integrity regarding this matter.”

“Thank you, that would be nice.” Her mother smiled, but her grip on Little Rena tightened.

“Is something wrong?”

“I kinda ran into some bad luck this week. One of my interviews went ... poorly, and while the others went better, they all ... pointed out that I previously did a lot of stuff solely for views and not facts. The word ‘integrity’ has been tossed around quite a bit.” Her mother admitted.

“You’ve gotten much better at it. I know when it comes down to it, you do choose the right thing over your own wants.”

“Thanks, Ladybug.”

“You’re welcome, Ladyblogger. Bug out!” The connection cut off and Little Rena cuddled closer as her mom picked up the sheet of paper she’d used to talk to Ladybug.

“I miss Shell and Nino too. Give us some time and we’ll not only be friends again but also you’ll be able to play with him.” Her mother assured her. “I’m sorry, my arguments with him shouldn’t have been in front of you two. My parents made this parenting thing look easier than it is.”

Little Rena patted her mother’s cheek, that was okay. Her mother was learning.

“So, ready for dinner?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Secondary_education_in_France


	4. Don’t Cry, Little One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is ice skating and information exchanged.

March 19th 

Conner sighed. Today was the day he had to go back to Mt. Justice and he really didn’t want to leave.

He had gotten his mother’s contact information, both as Ladybug and Marinette, she had also given him Chat Noir’s to use in an emergency. But that wasn’t really the same.

Yesterday had been fun with the video games, but the best part had been learning his mom was a designer ... and her critiques of the outfits superheroes wore. M’gann had spent time shifting into the various forms that Marinette described, which had devolved into charades.

There was just no guarantee that he’d be able to see her often after this, and he almost didn’t want to leave.

‘Conner, it’s okay.’ M’gann nudged him.

‘I know, I’m just ...’ he couldn’t put a word to the feeling that he wanted to have both the team and his mother in the same place.

M’gann just smiled. ‘It’s okay. You’re going to be able to see her again. Marinette is pretty determined to help.’

‘I know. I know.’

The Bakery had a line, but Sabine happily waved them to the back. Upstairs his mother was working on someone else, and was finishing up with some chanting that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

“Thanks Marinette! Wrist is as good as new!” The guy got up and started flexing.

“Take it easy, Kim, it’s still sprained!” Marinette scolded with a smile, putting away some stuff in a box. 

The guy ignored her scolding and hugged her. “You’re the best! Alix won’t know what hit her!”

Conner scowled, not liking the guy despite his mother laughing, causing M’gann to nudge him.

“I heard that! Now you don’t have an excuse for losing.” Alix came down from his mother’s room, carefully putting on her backpack. She gave a polite nod to the two of them, then turned to talk to the guy.

‘The creator’s son!’ A doll that resembled King Monkey poked its head out. ‘Hi!’ He was suddenly yanked out of sight. ‘But it’s him! Ow!’

‘Shut up, we’re not supposed to say anything!’ A second unseen doll scolded. There was a scuffle inside the bag that Conner did his best to ignore.

“Conner, Megan, meet Kim and Alix.” Marinette introduced them. “These two are some of my more frequent customers. Guys, these two rescued Madame Chamack and her daughter during the last Akuma attack.”

“Really? That’s cool man!” Kim grinned at them. “Alix and I are gonna race, wanna join?”

“Kim, we said no challenges with strangers! And they’re Marinette’s next appointment.” Alix rolled her eyes. “But there’s a new ice skating rink we’re going to, if you want to join us.”

“Ooh, I’d love to go ice skating!” M’gann looked at Conner and Marinette.

“Sounds like fun to me as well. Conner?”

“... Sure, I guess.” He didn’t actually want to go, but both M’gann and Marinette looked excited.

“Cool, see you there!” The two left, Kim with a yell as he jumped down some of the stairs.

“Be careful you big lummox!” Alix scolded. 

“Like I said, frequent customers.” Marinette smiled.

“I saw the king monkey doll.” Conner admitted.

“Of course you did.” His mother looked exasperated. “Out of all the dolls, he’s the one that causes the most trouble. Kim’s actually gotten better at being responsible because of that, but the Prince Monkey doll is incorrigible.”

“He called you his Creator, not mom. Why?”

“Because Kim is his father. I don’t spend much time with the other dolls I have made, as I made them for the others, not myself.” She explained, taking his hand. “It’s always been their choice of what to call me.” She hummed absently. “Good news is the worst of the damage has healed, so you’ll start to heal naturally. I’ll do my best to coordinate times to visit so I can keep track of your progress.”

“I don’t know if security would let you through ...”

“Then we meet somewhere near your school.” Marinette smiled at him. “It’s not impossible, just difficult.”

“And I want you both to promise not to reveal that Marinette is Ladybug! Not even to your team, Promise!” Tikki insisted.

“I Promise.” Conner felt the hair stand on the back of his neck as something pricked the air.

“I promise, too.” M’gann agreed, but didn’t seem to notice the power surge.

Maybe it had just been something that his mother was doing. It felt familiar at least. Conner chose to ignore it for now. Especially as he went upstairs to see his siblings for a visit while Mom and M’gann packed up some snacks.

There was still his issue with ice skating, though.

“I don’t know how.” Marinette looked at Conner as they got off the bus. He was scowling slightly at the ground.

“Neither do I, won’t it be fun to learn?” M’gann beamed at them.

“Don’t worry, everyone falls on the ice when they start, but it’s really fun. The old rink got replaced with a gym but this new place got built after the Winter Olympics.” Marinette lead them in. There were quite a few people there.

“... What if I crack the ice?” Conner asked. He looked really concerned about it, and Marinette smiled.

“Here, a good luck charm.” She pulled out a red scarf and wrapped it around his neck. There was a circle with five black dots stitched on one end. She gave M’gann a green scarf with black paw prints on it. “There, now you won’t crack the ice.” 

Marinette helped them get the gloves, pads and the skates, before leading the way to the locker room to put away their shoes.

M’gann almost fell into the nearby trash can when she stood up.

“Awesome, you made it!” Kim grinned as he made his way over. 

Marinette smiled up at him. “Yep, it’s their first time skating.”

“Oh good, that will even things out.” Kim kept M’gann from falling again. “Alix! Help Marinette with Conner! No worries Megan, I’ll have you skating like a pro in no time.” Kim lead M’gann to the ice, coaching her on how to walk.

Marinette coughed at Conner’s look of frustration. Her son was adorable when he was jealous, but she should probably not encourage it. “Don’t worry, Kim’s got very little interest in flirting with girls... he tends to focus on sports more.”

“He’s a dumbass with a heart of gold is what she means.” Alix announced, looking exasperated. “Conner, right? I want you to try not to squish Marinette if you fall.” 

Marinette and Alix were able to get him standing and walking to the ice.

“Alright Conner, have you been roller skating at all?” Alix asked, and Conner shook his head. “Okay, first thing, you push with one foot and glide with the other.” Alix demonstrated, then took up a position next to him. “Let’s see you try.”

Conner nearly pulled them off their feet when he did.

“Okay, easy on the grabbing, we’re here and we’ll support you if you need it.” Alix coached.

“Right...” Conner muttered, trying not to fall.

M’gann and Kim went skating by, Kim skating backwards and still coaching M’gann. She was grinning.

“I’m not letting him beat me. C’mon try again.” Alix looked annoyed.

“... you two made it a challenge?” Marinette was exasperated because of course they had. Alix was unrepentant. 

“I refuse to ever lose to Kim.” She turned back to Conner. “Ready and push.” 

This time it went much smoother.

“Okay, and here’s how you stop...”

A few more minutes and near misses from others learning how to ice skate- and one older man who had forgotten how to stop and chose to slam into the rail regardless of who was in his way- Conner was skating fairly well. 

“Well done!” Marinette beamed.

“This is kind of fun.” Conner admitted, grinning a little. And then almost fell.

“The ice gets a little rough after a while.” Alix steadied him and then let go. “Okay, no training wheels, let’s go.” 

Conner managed to stay upright and moving for a while after that ... until M’gann grabbed his hand as she skated by and she fell. He had to stop so he didn’t hurt her.

“How do I stop?” M’gann asked as Kim skated up.

As Kim and Conner helped M’gann, this allowed Marinette and Alix to fall back a bit.

“That’s him, huh?” Alix asked. She’d most likely seen the messy pictures that Littlebug was fond of doing had included a new figure when she supervised the dolls playdate.

“Yep.” Marinette nodded. Alix had figured out the first year of Lycée that Marinette was Ladybug, and had quickly started covering for her when she could.

“And the cat’s okay with this?”

“If he had his way, he’d have adoption papers already.” Marinette smiled.

“Keep me posted?” Alix offered. Alix had known for a while that she was going to be called on to be a hero, and had been called on when the children had disappeared, quickly time traveling to make sure that planes were landed and no child surgeries were in progress before the split. Ladybug and Chat Noir had been busy with an akuma made from a frantic mother looking for her children. Alix had worn herself out pushing her limits first thing, managing to capitalize on her power even with frequent recharges.

Marinette was considering making her a permanent holder of the Rabbit, she was going to wait until after the meeting with the Mayor and the President.

“Of course.” Marinette had to catch herself as she hit a rough patch of ice. “Mind if I come over tonight?”

“You’re always welcome.” Alix grinned. Then noticed how Kim was trying to teach M’gann to stop while Conner kept her upright. “Are you trying to confuse the poor girl? That stupid toe stop just causes face plants!” Alix stopped by sliding sideways.

The rest of the time was spent skating and judging a series of increasingly ridiculous challenges between Kim and Alix. 

Marinette enjoyed it a lot. She was a little reluctant to leave when her alarm went off.

“Guys, time to go.” She called out to where Conner had gotten roped into helping Kim in a guy verse girls race. Conner was very obviously letting M’gann win to Kim’s frustration and Alix’s amusement. M’gann and Conner quickly skated over, and M’gann forgot how to stop and slammed into the rail.

Kim and Alix skated after them.

“Wait, you’re leaving?” Kim looked disappointed.

“I’ve got an appointment in a little while and they have to catch a train.” She wasn’t looking forward to that. Just because they had a plan didn’t mean it would hold up.

“Well it was great to meet you both!” Kim grinned. Alix waved them off. 

Marinette lead the way to return the equipment.

“Have you figured out what you’re going to say to your friends?” 

“Not yet, I’ll work it out on the train.” Conner admitted.

“Or he’ll spend it panicking the entire time.” M’gann smiled. “His best plan for finding you was try to flag you down as Ladybug.”

“Mm, that would have worked. Obviously my only request is that you avoid mentioning anything personal, but I’m sure you know how to balance that in a conversation.” Marinette looked up at them. “Other than that, have fun.” She wasn’t the only one a little sad at their leaving. 

Littlebug had several drawings to give him, and Minimouse demanded hugs. Chaton made Conner promise to comeback no matter what.

Pik just peeked out from his hiding spot, and then promptly hid again. (It would be a while before the youngest doll was brave enough to leave his hiding place when Conner visited.)

Unfortunately, she couldn’t go with them to the train station, she needed to go to her meeting. It was a little frustrating, but Marinette was determined that she’d be able to see her son more often.

Not to mention, it might put a dent in an organization that had no business in stealing DNA to make human weapons.

* * *

Mount Justice 

Kaldur looked up from a report he was typing as Conner and M’gann returned, M’gann quickly turning green. “Have a fun trip to London?”

“Yeah, it was good. Who’s all here?”

“Kid Flash and Robin are in their cities, Rocket is out with Red Tornado, and Black Canary is on a mission, so just Zatanna and Artemis right now.” Kaldur offered, hitting send on the report. “Why?”

Superboy looked at M’gann, who took over. “We kinda did something technically illegal that we don’t want the League to know about.”

“What did you do?” Kaldur was wary at that point, even as he called Zatanna and Artemis to come up.

“We went to Paris.” Conner admitted. “As Civilians!”

“... You weren’t kidding about technically illegal.” Kaldur grimaced. The Superhero Ban in France had been done to protect the local heroes from having to battle super powered akumas, especially after one reportedly almost killed the two heroes. For the most part, heroes made sure not to go there even as civilians. “Why would you even risk it?”

“Risk what?” Artemis asked as she entered with Zatanna.

“They went to Paris.” Kaldur explained.

“Why?” Zatanna looked surprised. 

“Because I have a third donor.” Conner admitted and that wasn’t what any of them were expecting. “Luthor and Superman were my primary donors, but I have her as my mitochondrial DNA donor.”

“Her?” Kaldur almost didn’t want to know, but at the same time... Conner looked happy.

“Ladybug. She’s my mom ... and she wanted me.” Conner looked a little embarrassed at admitting that. “She ... she’s amazing.”

“And she was willing to believe she had a teenage son just like that?” Artemis sounded skeptical, and Kaldur felt the same way. The Parisian hero had started being a superhero around the same time that Robin joined Batman, she couldn’t be much older than them.

“Apparently what they got her DNA from was saturated in her magic and she was able to confirm by feeling her magic in me.” Conner explained.

Kaldur heard Zatanna mutter something.

“She’s the real deal, I know! I read a bit of her mind.” M’gann added. And that was a little easier to believe than what Conner was saying. “She’s amazing and she bakes and she showed us Paris and she makes dolls come to life, and they’re such sweethearts!”

“... You’re serious?” Artemis managed.

“Conner does have magic.” Zatanna looked surprised. She had her hands up in front of her face as if she was looking through binoculars. “I mean, it’s so faint I can just barely find it, but it’s there.” She walked up to him, looking at him as if seeing something no one else did. “It’s really strained though. The last time I saw a person’s magic look like this, they’d pushed it to the limit trying to kill my father ...” she broke whatever spell she was using and crossed her arms.

“Apparently it went into overtime trying to keep me alive while I was using the shields... Mom spent a lot of time fixing the damage.”

And Conner was calling Ladybug ’mom’ now. Though Conner was technically almost a year old now ... Kaldur would have to look up surface customs for celebration.

“I know it’s a lot to ask ... but I don’t want to tell the League yet. And Mom hasn’t finished healing me, so she wants to know if she could come over here, or meet up on the mainland.” Conner explained.

“Mainland, the security system here would register her as an intruder, and only a league member can add her to the system. And I want Zatanna there as well.” At least that was an easy decision to make. Admittedly Kaldur was pretty curious about Ladybug as well, so he would be tagging along the first visit as well.

“Okay.” Conner agreed pretty easily to that. “I’ll let her know.”

He was promptly tackled by a very happy Wolf, much to everyone else’s amusement.

“So, are we going to tell the others?” Artemis asked.

“Yeah, I’m okay with the team meeting her, but she’s not interested in dealing with the League ... though she said she was going to go talk to Superman at some point.” Conner struggled up, still petting Wolf. “I have no idea how that will go, or when.” 

“You’re gonna have to talk to Black Canary at some point though.” Kaldur pointed out.

“I know. And I’ll have no idea what to say.” Conner admitted.

“So ... Ladybug is nice?” Artemis asked.

“Yes! She showed us Paris and took us for ice cream, and we played video games- she won a lot- and then we went ice skating and she gave me a recipe for croissants for me to practice, and when I get those right she’ll teach me how to do pain au chocolat!” M’gann gushed, leading the way to the tv room.

Kaldur followed them, and was promptly presented with keychains one from the Eiffel Tower and another shaped like Big Ben.

It was fun listening about their trip. Kaldur was a little concerned about them rescuing civilians even without their powers, but no one seemed to have noticed anything out of the ordinary about that.

At least Conner hadn’t become an akuma, that would’ve been a disaster.

* * *

Paris, Alix’s Appartment.

It was late when the knock on her door finally came, Alix gently shifted a sleeping Bunny off her lap to answer it.

Marinette slipped in quietly. “Thanks for seeing me.”

“Any time, you know that. What’s up?”

“They’ve agreed to a trial period, they’re also planning on launching an investigation.” Marinette slumped on the couch.

“You’re okay having a teenage boy calling you mom?”

“He’s actually only a year old, he just looks like a teenager.” Marinette corrected. “And I’ve already launched my own investigation. Alya and Max are on it. But I have a few more contingency plans I need to put in place before I think about calling him for an akuma.”

“Like what?” Alix asked, and felt her jaw drop as Marinette held out a very familiar box. “Marinette?”

“Alix Kubel, this is the Rabbit Miraculous. I want you to become its fulltime wielder like myself and Chat Noir. If you accept, you will also become the Guardian in training of the Miraculous box, and will become the Guardian upon my death.”

“I promise. I won’t let you down.” Alix took the box, and smiled as Fluff appeared. “But what about your son or Chat Noir?”

“He’ll be taking over the Ladybug powers, he’ll need quite a bit of guidance before he’d be ready for that. As for Chat Noir ... odds are if I’m dead, he’d already be dead as well.” Marinette looked so tired, the meeting must have been rough. “I’m going to talk to Superman tomorrow, see what we can do about my borrowing Superboy on occasion.”

“One moment.” Alix got up and got some hot chocolate for both of them, and some treats for the Kwamis. “Never thought I’d say it, but I miss your crazy plans for asking Adrien on a date ... they were a lot less depressing.” So were the many surprise parties she’d planned. 

“I miss them too.” Marinette snorted. “I told Adrien about them.”

“You did? Why?”

“Thought he should know in case Lila heard about them from Alya.” Marinette gave a wry smile. “After he told me off for the ones that would’ve gotten his bodyguard and Nathalie in trouble or akumatized, he admitted to thinking similar ways about asking Ladybug out. It was part of the ‘why we shouldn’t date while Hawkmoth is active’ discussion.”

“... you two do know that first crushes are allowed to be silly and over the top, right?” Alix was concerned, and a little annoyed at Hawkmoth for forcing her friends to give up on being silly teenagers. They couldn’t even go to Therapy like everyone else because they couldn’t let their identities be known.

Honestly, that more than anything had tipped Alix off that something was wrong. Marinette had sort of shutdown for a while, she had of course acted completely normal, and had adored dating Luka, but there was the sense that she had just stopped and was merely doing the motions.

Alix hadn’t been remotely a friend to Marinette prior to the year she became Ladybug. Marinette had been quiet and shy and always doodling. Alix had been busy keeping Kim (thank god the giant idiot had eventually stopped being a total jerk and had realized being cruel like Chloe was not going to get that brat to like him) from bothering Nathaniel who she had known much longer.

It had taken a few months into Lycée to realize that Marinette always disappeared during akuma attacks, and that occasionally she returned exhausted, as if she had been fighting.

Alix hadn’t really had a plan when she went to confront Marinette back then, and had accidentally ended up with a sobbing mess because of course the day Alix picked to call Marinette out was also the day Luka had broken up with her.

“I know.” Marinette just gave a sad smile, bringing Alix back to the current conversation. “Anyway, the Kwamis, Adrien and I cursed Cadmus, so that will be producing results soon.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Alix felt shocked.

“It’s a rare thing, and since we were missing the butterfly and peacock it’s not as strong as it could be.” Tikki explained, as if that made it better.

“Such a violation of our guardian should not be allowed to go unpunished.” Fluff explained.

Marinette grimaced at the wording. (She was seriously considering getting a dictionary and a thesaurus for the Kwamis so they would stop using that term.)

Alix wrapped an arm around her friend. “Fair enough. No creep should be allowed to steal the DNA of Ladybug. There definitely won’t be a next time if Fluff and I can do anything about it.”

“Thanks Alix.” Marinette smiled. “You’re the best.”

Bunny woke up, and cheerfully hugged her mother in agreement.

“What else do I need to know?” Alix asked, grabbing a snack for Bunny to munch on.

“For tonight? A couple more things.” Marinette straightened.

Alix immediately sat up as well. There was no way she was going to let Marinette down!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enter Alix, now a permanent holder of the Rabbit. and guardian in training.   
> Mostly because I like the idea of Bunnyx being a cool mentor.  
> Marinette’s government meeting will be dealt with in flashbacks... mainly because I could only think of like two lines and it’s not character related, just a plot device.  
> Kaldur was a bit of a challenge to write, Hope I did him justice.  
> before I progress:  
> This story is set during the five year time skip between season one and season two of young justice. I will eventually be adding more characters to both the YJ team and the miraculous team.  
> And I am slightly salty that the time skip was five years and characters I was interested in seeing interact with the team were killed off during it.  
> (Yes, I am talking about Tula and Jason Todd. I am definitely considering altering fates at the moment, but we’ll see how it goes.)  
> Next Chapter: Ladybug meets Superman. No fighting, but a lot of listening.


	5. There’ll Be a Smile where a Frown Used to Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug meets Superman.

March 20th

Metropolis. Daily Planet’s roof. Ladyhorse (... horsebug ... Marebug ... Ladymare...Horsefly? Ugh, she needed better naming skills) didn’t have to wait long before Superman arrived to find the source of the noise and rumors from those that might have seen the light that flashed when the portal closed.

“Hello. I’m Ladybug of Paris. I need to talk to you.” She went with her regular name, no sense in confusing the superhero.

Superman was surprised. “I thought you were going to stay in Paris until your villains were defeated.”

“I was, but something was brought to my attention and I need to speak to you. Mind if we sit?” Folding chairs had been brought to the roof over the years for smokers and those that wanted pictures of Superman. “I have a file You need to read.” She handed over a red and black dotted file folder.

Superman looked surprised, but complied. “... What?” He whispered in shock when he finished reading. “How did you find out?” He looked over at her.

“Superboy reached out to me over his spring break. He was rather concerned I would reject him, but he wanted to ask if I could be his mother. I said yes.” 

“I see ...” Superman’s hesitation was interesting to watch.

“According to him you were distant, only recently starting to reach out and check up on him, but still not around much, I just want to know why?” Ladybug studied him. 

Superman just looked away in response.

“Look, my government is going to allow Superboy to be the exception to the Superhero ban, and with the exception of Monsieur Luthor, I’d like us to be on the same page. I promise, anything you tell me in confidence will remain so.”

“... I don’t want to be his father.” Superman admitted. “Everyone seems to expect that of me and I just ... I can’t. I’m not okay with people using my DNA to make weapons. I know it’s not his fault and he’s proven he’s not a sleeper agent, and he is a good kid, so I should be able to be a mentor, but I... I don’t want to be his father as well, and everyone seems to expect that of me.” He sighed. He looked sad, and Ladybug suddenly realized that she’d seen this situation before.

After all, she’d lived it as Marinette. Being the everyday Ladybug, of course she could handle extra responsibilities, of course she could do anything and everything... except be allowed to say no.

She had almost been akumatized while she yelled at Alya for saying yes to another obligation on her behalf, only for a distraught Rose to save her by grabbing the akuma. The fallout from that had been to use the mouse and fox miraculous to make an illusion of Ladybug to talk to them and inform them that boundaries were needed and not to assume that someone was okay just because they were supposedly always okay.

She had a feeling Superman was struggling with the same issue... everyone was so used to him being okay and capable that they weren’t actually talking with him about how he felt.

It would probably be too forward to grab him in a hug, but she still reached out to touch his shoulder.

“You don’t have to be.” Ladybug pointed out. “Superboy would be happy with any sort family as long as they wanted him. I’m happy being his mother. Unfortunately, my own family can’t know my secret identity so the closest relation I can claim him as a civilian is a distant cousin.”

“Which is fine, because it keeps your cover ... but it’s probably not the most stable family dynamic.” Superman was considering something, she could see it.

“Which is why I’m here, we need to work this out, preferably before summer vacation for Conner, it sounds like the rest of the team is going home.”

“... How would you like some actual home made apple pie? I know a couple people that might be able to help us figure this out.” Superman asked, having come to a decision. He stood up, handing her back the file.

“Sounds good to me.” Ladybug stuck it into her yo-yo. “My magic or your flight?”

“I’d like to see your magic, if you don’t mind? The address is 321 Maple Street, Smallville, Kansas.” Superman told her.

Voyage was quite a fun way to travel, and she’d gotten to where she could use it twice in a row and be able to use a lucky charm. Kaalki was going to need a break after this, though.

The farmhouse was a bit of a surprise, but Ladybug just looked up at Superman for an answer.

“My name is Clark Kent, this is my family home ... my parents know a lot about keeping secrets and raising superheroes. Well, more than I do, at any rate.” Superman admitted.

“Unfortunately I can’t reveal my secret identity as easily, you have to figure it out.” Ladybug gave him a wry smile. “Magic.”

“Fair enough, I’ll do the introductions.” Superman smiled back at her and led the way to door. A knock had a woman with grey streaked hair opening the door.

“Clark? Come in dear, who’s your friend?” The woman let them in, and a man with completely grey hair put down something he was fiddling with to stand up. 

“Ma, Pa, this is Ladybug... she’s a Superhero from Paris.” Superman introduced them. “Ladybug, these are my parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent.”

“Hello!” Ladybug smiled and dismissed Kaalki, the horse Kwami landed on her shoulder as Ladybug placed the glasses on her head, glad to have her familiar domino mask in place. “Sorry, this is my friend Kaalki.”

“Hello, it’s a pleasure to meet you. May I trouble you for some sugar cubes?” Kaalki’s stomach rumbled loud enough that they could all hear it.

“I take it this isn’t a social visit, Clark?” Jonathan Kent asked, and Ladybug wanted to hide from the sound of fatherly disappointment.

“Unfortunately no, I’m planning to come home for Easter, though.” Superman looked just as sheepish as Ladybug felt. “There’s just ... I, well, we need help.”

“Well come in and sit down, we’ve got pie.” Martha ushered them to the table.

“What’s the problem?” Jonathan asked as he sat back down. Slices of warm apple pie were deposited in front of them as they sat down.

Ladybug and Superman took turns explaining how Superboy was made from their DNA without their knowledge, about how Conner’s teammates had deprogrammed him from the trigger words implanted, and his search to fit in, as well as coming to Ladybug for a family.

“And I’m happy to be his mother, but I can’t really do that as a civilian, my parents aren’t aware of my identity just my healing powers. I don’t know what to do.” Ladybug explained. “The best attempt I’ve got is a distant American cousin.” 

“I see. You know, you’re overlooking a very simple solution.”

“I have been known to do that.” Ladybug agreed, and Martha Kent smiled. “What am I missing?”

“Obviously, a single mother with a busy career would feel bad about moving around so often that she agreed to let him live with his cousin’s family while she continued to travel for work, visiting whenever she can of course.” Martha gave Kaalki another slice of pie. “Families come in all sorts of ways, after all.”

“Though you really should have told us in person before this Clark.” Jonathan informed him. “I know between the league and your job it can be hard to visit, but finding out through the news there was a Superboy running around was rather upsetting, especially after last time.”

“I’m sorry, I just... the lab he was in had programmed him and I didn’t...”

“Know if it was to find his identity and take out his family?” Ladybug offered. Kaalki swallowed a slice of apple before daintily wiping her hooves on a napkin.

“Yes.” Superman nodded at her. “He was supposed to kill and replace me, I know he’s stronger than what they tried to make him into, but at the time, I was too scared to give him a chance.” Superman sighed. “I know I handled the situation poorly, but I couldn’t...”

“A piece of your very being was stolen from you without your permission. You are allowed to be upset that they used that piece to make weapons that goes against all you stand for!” Kaalki looked up after finishing her slice of pie. “Maybe you should have reached out more, but it was still fine for you to be wary!”

“Kaalki is right, Clark, it’s okay to feel upset, but you know you could of asked us for help.” Martha got up.

“I know. It just feels like whatever I do, something has gone wrong lately.”

“You really need to get your feet back on the ground.” Jonathan clasped his son’s shoulder. “Son, you’re allowed to not know everything, isn’t that why you started working with a team?”

Superman nodded.

“This is exquisite!” Kaalki proclaimed, derailing the conversation. Everyone looked at the tiny Kwami who had accepted a second slice of pie from Martha. “Ladybug, you must get the recipe! May we please take some to go as well? The others would love this!” Kaalki looked at them, realizing she had interrupted. “Pardon me, I didn’t mean to ...”

“It’s okay Kaalki. Ma bakes the best pies.” Superman smiled.

“It is really good. I’m a baker’s daughter.” Ladybug smiled. “Remind me to bring some food over next time.”

“Which leads us back to Conner.” Martha took control of the conversation. “I recommend you bring him here to meet us for Easter. That gives me time to set up the story in town. Obviously he’s at a boarding school during the school year, so I’ll be excited to have him live here during the summer and visit during most holidays. It’s not been often you two come to visit after all.”

“I might be able use my magic to look more civilian instead of superhero until you figure it out. I’m always going to be on call as long as Hawkmoth is active.” Ladybug sighed. “And my partner’s family life means he doesn’t always get away in time.”

“Which is where the busy single mother comes in.” Martha smiled. “It’s obviously frustrating, but you’re doing your best by your son. Do you want to be a Kent by blood or marriage? I can easily add you to the family tree. I’m the town historian so no one questions me.”

Jonathan just shook his head fondly. “Here she goes again.”

“Conner is sixteen?” Martha asked Ladybug. 

“Looks sixteen, he’s only been around for about a year ... Birthday is tomorrow the 21st .” Ladybug considered. “I’m not yet twenty, on that note, we think they got my DNA a couple years ago.”

Superman looked horrified at that, and Jonathan patted his son on the back.

“Well, about fourteen years ago we lost a few cousins to a car crash, not hard to say one of the sons had a brief dalliance that produced Conner. We’ll have to fudge your age, say you’ve got good genes.” Martha offered.

“She does.” Kaalki confirmed and Ladybug grimaced.

“You’ve managed to be a good parent, of course, but your son’s interested in his dad’s side of the family tree and your job is demanding more of your time, so you reached out to us for help.” Martha continued on.

“That is definitely true.” Ladybug smiled.

“The three of us will be legal guardians for your son while you’re away ... you might have to make up a false name for when you’re here anyway in order for your age to match having a sixteen year old, but make sure it’s close to your own so you don’t forget it.” Martha advised.

“Marietta. It was one of the names mom was thinking of. Brodeur for a surname.” Ladybug smiled.

“Is that really necessary?” Superman looked surprised at the two of them.

“You don’t remember, but your mother initially had a complex backstory to explain you. Most people didn’t ask beyond congratulating us for having a son, a few for adopting.” Jonathan chuckled. “Ma likes being prepared, and it kept the government from looking too close after the meteor shower that brought you. Though may I point out that there’s another option, which is that the kid’s been in foster care, we adopted him and he managed to find his biological mother who’s willing to visit and reconnect; it would be a lot simpler, Martha, Miss Ladybug.” Jonathan pointed out.

“...” both Martha and Ladybug had the same look of surprise, Superman smiled.

“You only just found out about him, remember? And I’m sure there’s a cover for him already in place if he’s at school right now.” Jonathan continued to bring them back down to reality.

“I like you, you’re clever.” Kaalki giggled. “And a simple ruse is better.”

“I might have gotten carried away.” Martha agreed, a little apologetically.

“I do tend to think complicated things before I think simply.” Ladybug felt a little sheepish. She shared a look with Martha who gently hugged her with a smile.

“I’ll look into whatever J’onn and Batman used to get him into school, get Marietta Brodeur listed as his mother and us for emergency contacts.” Superman offered. “I definitely prefer being a cousin and adoptive older brother than a father right now.”

“No shame in that, son.” Jonathan assured him. “Not everyone can handle being a parent, and you’re unfamiliar with how to be a mentor. You know you’ve got to work on it, so you will.”

“If that’s decided, I better pack up the remainder of the pie for you, dear.” Martha got up. “Clark, you’ll bring Conner with you for Easter?”

“Yes Ma.”

“I’ll swing by to visit then as well. We’ll go with the really simple story, then?” Ladybug smiled.

“Sounds good. What are you going to tell Conner?”

“I’m going to tell him that I met with Superman like I said I would. Which reminds me of the other thing we need to talk about.”

* * *

“The Superhero ban.” Superman remembered. “You mentioned that before. Superboy was going to be made an exception?”

“Yes. Which means I will be picking him up for Akuma battles. We need to set up some ground rules for that. Obviously I can’t borrow him while he’s on a league mission or at school, but otherwise?”

“I can move his status from full time to part time, that’s the status the rest of his team has. Though I probably should start a training schedule with him as well, there’s a chance that the more sunlight he’s exposed to will strengthen his existing powers and he’ll eventually develop the others.” Hopefully Conner would want to learn from him still. And Hopefully he wasn’t called on for more back to back League missions like he had been the past few months. He was more than due for a vacation, but it seemed like everyone requested Superman’s help when calling the League. 

“And once he’s fully healed from the damage those damned shields did to him his magic should start manifesting as well.”

“Magic?” A version of himself with magic was interesting... hopefully Luthor would never discover it.

“I’ve made dolls come to life, those dolls have all developed a power I’ve previously used. He got a piece of me that was essentially charged with magic at the time. I could recognize it in him, and it was how I could confirm what he said. When he used the shields they destabilized his body enough that his latent magic went to keeping him alive. Now that they’re not an issue, it should develop naturally. Could be healing or even just good luck, though it could manifest in a completely different manner... as it is, he’s very likely to be the next ladybug wielder if I die before Hawkmoth is defeated.” Ladybug explained.

He couldn’t help her with that, but he could help with Conner. 

“I can have you added to Mt. Justice security as a guest trainer. That authorization does need to be renewed every six months but Red Tornado and Black Canary can take care of that if I’m not there.” Superman offered instead. The League normally insisted on background checks, and the other mentors usually wanted to at least meet the instructors, but as a founding member he did have the ability to circumvent the issue. He’d never done so before, but he would inform Kaldur, Black Canary and Red Tornado. “I’ll make sure Conner doesn’t have any plans for Easter while I’m at it.”

“Ah, what about his school?” Ladybug looked at his father. “He’s got some friends there, as I understand it.” 

“That’s where we borrow some of Martha’s story. His biological mother is paying for a unique out of state boarding school.” Pa smiled. “Keep it simple, less things can go wrong.”

Superman smiled back. Why he hadn’t just come home for help sooner was a mistake that he wouldn’t make again.

“I’ll also need a video statement from you.” Ladybug looked sheepish. “Basically that you’re okay with me and Superboy working together while I refuse to be part of the league, the press conference is in a few days, I would like to show it then as a prepared statement.”

“Of course. We should probably film it back at the Daily Planet.” Superman agreed.

He ended up joining his parents in staring as the boxed-up pie fit into her yo-yo. Kaalki giggled at them, before thankingthem for the hospitality. Ladybug also thanked them, hugging them.

“I’m glad to have met you both.” Ladybug smiled. Something caught her eye behind his mother. 

The only thing there was a collection of five decorative plates hanging on the wall. Bees circled the edges while the centers depicted various buildings and animals on a farm. Ladybug recovered quickly and his parents didn’t notice so he didn’t call it out.

She put the glasses and Kaalki vanished into them, magic swirled around her, adding back the sunglasses and a black jacket to her outfit. “Voyage!”

It was nothing like the Zeta tubes, there was no feeling of static as they went through.

“Now, about that statement, how does this sound?” It took a few minutes to get the wording just right, and even less time for her to use her yo-yo to record him.

“Is there anything it can’t do?” He asked once they were done.

“It’s magic, so not really? I haven’t found the limit yet, at least.” She smiled. “It’s like a smartphone.”

“Before I forget, let me give you the numbers for the Fortress of Solitude and Mount Justice. That way you can get in contact with me or Red Tornado if there’s an emergency.” Superman offered. “I’ll make sure you’re listed as an emergency contact if Conner gets hurt.”

“Thanks, here’s mine as well.” They traded contact information. Ladybug’s yo-yo beeped. 

“I need to get back to Paris, I’m glad we got this sorted out.” She admitted. She hesitated a moment, before hugging him. “I won’t help the league, but if you need someone to talk to, I’ll listen.” Ladybug started to pull away, but he carefully wrapped his arms around her.

“The same goes for you.” He assured her. “Thank you for listening.” No one else had. And it had been frustrating that he wasn’t allowed to react poorly to yet another attempt by Luthor to cause him problems.

“That’s what family is for.” Ladybug grinned as she stepped away. “Bug out!” She leapt through the portal, and he could hear screaming and crashing before it closed.

It went against everything in him not to go flying off to help. Instead he took off to the nearest Zeta platform.

He’d talk to Red Tornado and Black Canary about Conner’s schedule now, before something came up. Adding Ladybug would have to wait until after he ascertained that Conner had told at least Kaldur about his third donor.

His comm. unit went off. “Clark, it’s Bruce, are you alright? There were reports of flashes of light above the Daily Planet.”

“I’m fine. A mother wanted help with her son.” Superman debated about talking to Bruce right then, before sighing. “I’m going to talk to Red Tornado or Black Canary right now, see when Superboy is available to train with me.”

Bruce’s sigh of ‘finally’ made him want to roll his eyes. He hadn’t spent more than a weekend on earth since New Years, and he was lucky he still had a job for his secret identity. (The fact he was allowed as Clark Kent to occasionally shadow League missions helped enormously.)

Lois was an amazing reporter, with his luck she’d already figured out his identity with how often he was gone.

“He’s a quick study.”

“I’m sure, I don’t suppose you’d back me up on letting me get some vacation time this summer. I’ve been on back to back emergency calls lately, and I want to introduce him to my parents now that we know he’s not an infiltrator.” Superman landed and began walking to the tube. “Gonna try for an Easter introduction, that’s when Ma wants him there, so hopefully he has that time off.”

“He should.” There was silence for a moment. “Who was the mother that contacted you?”

“I’m afraid she couldn’t give her real name, but she asked to be called Marietta.” Superman paused. “Before you ask, it was a magic thing. I decided not to push.”

It was very unlikely for him to be able to get one by Batman, but darn it all, Superman was going to try. Black Canary might be willing to help with that.

“Is she an ally?”

“She won’t help the League, but she will help me and Superboy. That was the best I could get from her.”

“Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow night.” The line clicked and Superman shook his head. He was definitely going to be putting himself down for extended vacation.

* * *

Black Canary listened to Conner and M’gann explain what exactly they had been up to for Spring Break, with most of their teammates backing them up.

It was equal parts concerning and sweet that they were willing to back up their teammates no matter what they did.

“At least you two realize how dangerous it could have been.” Black Canary sighed. She and Green Arrow has gone through his old missions, trying to figure out exactly when Speedy could have been captured and replaced. Red Arrow actually wasn’t much help, as he had all of Speedy’s memories. They’d have to have J’onn go through his memories when the Martian returned from his latest mission.

She’d been instantly suspicious when she’d stopped by Mount Justice and Conner had offered her lunch.

Apparently, he’d found out he had a third donor and went off to find her with M’gann as emotional support. And had gone to the one place that was entirely off limits to do so.

Honestly, Dinah wasn’t sure if she was impressed by the planning or worried by how much could have gone wrong.

“We know!” M’gann glanced in the oven where she had put in croissants.

“But no one got hurt, and you may have a new ally, so I won’t report this to the league. I need the permission of at least one mentor to allow her to come to the mountain.” Black Canary took a sip of the coffee they had given her.

“She said she was going to meet with Superman today, she wants the three of us on the same page just in case Luthor tries something.” Conner’s phone chimed and he looked at it. “They just finished talking, she has to deal with an akuma, but they’ve got a plan.”

“That’s good. She’s a good tactician then?”

“According to my oldest brother, she has ‘plans for plans’.” Conner had a wry smile.

“And you’re okay having dolls for siblings?” Black Canary asked.

“Oh! You have to show her!” M’gann beamed from the oven.

Conner left briefly, and returned with a couple crayon drawings.

Black Canary smiled at the sight. “That’s sweet.” Occasionally she got drawings from children she saved. Most of the league had.

“Only one that couldn’t sense me was Pik.” He pointed to a green starfish shaped blob. “The damage done by the shields and the fact he’s the youngest meant he couldn’t sense me ... that kinda hurt, learning that the shields had damaged my connection to them.”

“You know better now. Don’t beat yourself up about your past mistakes. So, who’s who?”

“Chaton Noir, Littlebug, Minimouse, and Pik, that’s Mom, me, and Chat Noir, Mom’s partner. He’s normally the one that cares for Littlebug, but he had to leave her with Mom, some family emergency.” Conner frowned at that. “I don’t... I need to see him more before I can make a call, the dolls adore him, but Pik was kidnapped from his locker and pretty badly hurt ... I don’t know...”

“You should get to know him before you make any judgements ... I smell smoke.” Black Canary looked at the oven. 

“Oh no!” M’gann went to open the oven and Zatanna quickly turned it off. Rocket was standing by with the fire extinguisher.

“Recognized: Superman.” Conner tensed slightly at that.

M’gann and Zatanna were busy trying to figure out where they went wrong with the croissant recipe that the end result was a flat and partially melted mess.

Black Canary got up, and Conner excused himself to put away the drawings.

That was fine, she wanted to run damage control, just in case.

“So, I’m guessing the talk went well?” She asked as she entered the room.

Superman was petting Wolf as he spoke to Red Tornado.

“Yes. I’m putting Ladybug down as a guest instructor so she can borrow Conner when she wants. I don’t know if he’ll want to train with me, especially since he’s got school.” Superman had already gotten Red Tornado to sign off.

“Are you sure you’re able to handle the responsibility?”

“...” Superman frowned at her. “Now, why didn’t you ask me that before?” 

Black Canary froze. “What?”

“When he was found. Why didn’t anyone ask me if I was okay with training him then?” He studied her. “You were all so quick to assume I was okay with that... why?”

Black Canary didn’t have an answer that didn’t start with ‘Because you’re Superman’ and she knew that was the wrong thing to say. She had known Superman for a while, she should have talked to him before, instead of waiting for him to ‘come around’.

He seemed to notice that and simply gestured to the computer.

“She’s not listed as a member of the league.” Black Canary noticed.

“She won’t be. I’m moving Conner to part time status so it will be easier for her to get him.” Superman rubbed Wolf’s head.

“Is that wise?” Kaldur entered, Conner just behind.

“Most of you are already Part time, to account for possible trouble in your home towns, and your mentors are also all considered Part time. I’ve been on Full time as well as on mission rosters for the ones out of the solar system. I won’t be able to change my status until May.” Superman explained. “I’m definitely asking for vacation time this year.”

“When was your last vacation?” Conner asked, coming over to pet Wolf as well.

“Three years give or take.”

“What?!” Black Canary whirled around. “League rules are for everyone to take at least a month of vacation time a year, how did you ...?”

“Elongated man got married, so I covered for him, then a few heroes were injured and I covered for them ... some of the space missions took longer than expected... what are you typing?”

Black Canary was fuming as she typed a league-wide email. “A friendly reminder that vacation time is actually mandatory and that their first pick of person to cover should not be Superman.”

“Ah, I volunteered for most of those.”

“I don’t care, they should get someone else.” Black Canary didn’t look at them. “In fact, new rule, you’re no longer allowed to volunteer.” 

She glanced back to see Superman look surprised by that. He and Conner were still petting Wolf. (Wolf was clearly happy to be the center of their attention.)

Superman should not have been surprised that someone would be on his side. She’d spent so much time concerned about Superboy that she’d completely ignored the fact that maybe Superman needed to talk. Something she would have to work on ... perhaps have them both sit down for a session? Something to work on.

“Why don’t you two go talk? I’ll finish setting up Ladybug as a guest instructor. Kaldur, I’ll need your help.” Black Canary wanted to show Kaldur how to input the guest information so he could input it in the future.

Superman nodded. Wolf followed the two of them.

“Are you sure about this?” Kaldur asked. 

“Yes. The first healing session can be done on the mainland, and you and Zatanna can meet her there. Then you can bring her here and show her the security.” Black Canary explained. “Now, on occasion we’ve had to bring witnesses or active victims to the Hall of Justice.”

“Active victims?”

“Targets of assassination attempts or those with multiple hits on them.” Black Canary explained. “Now, you might run into this as well, so here’s what you need to do.” She explained the procedures. By the time they were done and dinner was getting ready, the two Supers and Wolf still hadn’t returned inside.

When they finally did come in, Wolf was covered in mud (where was there mud on the mountain?) and the two were trying to stealthily get Wolf to the showers.

As for first non-crisis related interaction between them, it was a good start. And it sounded like they were making plans for Easter break, which was something to encourage. As was getting them to sit down and talk to her in a group session.

Black Canary wanted to meet Ladybug now. She was curious about the young heroine now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So ... I never agreed with people that wanted Superman punished by Ladybug. Mostly for the reasons outlined in the story.  
> The other reason was I did research about Young Justice, and the god-tier parents Ma and Pa Kent are indeed alive and according to writers they do become a part of Conner’s life.  
> Martha’s needlessly complicated story comes from the first Christopher Reeve movie, where she suggests that they say little Superman is her cousin’s son come to live with them if anybody asks. I just ramped it up.  
> Also, I wanted her and Marinette to bond over something.  
> Black Canary is going to have a fun session with the three of them someday.   
> Next chapter will skip ahead to Easter, originally Conner’s first birthday was going to be next, but that’s turned into a mini story by itself and will be posted separately.


	6. You’ll be part of the love that you see

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exposition, Akumas, and Conner meets the Kent’s... and the family gets a little bigger.

The news that Superboy was being allowed past France’s Superhero Ban broke Wednesday, as had Superman’s prepared statement, and the discovery of a handful of leaked Cadmus documents online that had mostly confirmed that neither Superman nor Ladybug had consented to their DNA being used.

France was in an uproar. Not helped at all by the fact that the Ladyblogger came through, finding a moment when a panicking adult ‘tourist’ rather brutally pulled Ladybug’s hair while she rescued him from a burning building.

The video had been a shock for the press conference and had continued to make waves online, more than one internet board were now treating the man as a predator that needed to be hunted down.

Which was why Ladybug was dealing with an Akuma calling herself Artemis the man hunter, who was turning mostly all of the men and boys she deemed worthy of living into dogs and those that were prey were turned into deer. Which the dogs promptly hunted and chased.

“Well, she’s mostly accurate to one myth.” Bunnyx was unimpressed. “But who the hell decided her costume? All classic depictions of Artemis have her wearing at least a short peplos, not a fur bikini.” She hopped over thenext roof. “And that is an English longbow she’s wielding. You can tell by-” 

“mmrroww.” Came the greatly unimpressed noise from Chat Noir. Who was now an actual black cat and completely done with being carried and listening to the ladies speak.

“Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure that this is the first of many Cadmus related Akumas for the foreseeable future.” Ladybug sighed, petting her partner. “It’s either her necklace or the bow. Chat Noir, do you think you can use cataclysm on the bow?”

“Maow.” Chat Noir bumped his head against hers, then took off.

“Well, hopefully Superman and your son are having a better day than we are.” Bunnyx offered.

“They should. Superman alerted their PR person when the press conference started.” Ladybug grinned. “See you in a minute!”

Bunnyx grinned and hopped into her Burrow.

(Unfortunately, Artemis was just the start of many Akumas.)

* * *

Superman was slightly surprised by how quickly France had announced that Superboy was made from Ladybug’s DNA and was to be considered her son.

The Public Relations team was doing some damage control, but the worst thing anyone was saying was that he must’ve been working with Cadmus as there was no way someone could steal his DNA, which was what he and Ladybug had expected to happen. He was really glad most of the leaked documents proved otherwise, but there were still a few vocal civilians from both sides of the Atlantic that didn’t believe it.

He had an article drafted for Perry that he had emailed to PR for approval, Superboy had agreed to coming to his home for Easter, Ma had already gotten the adoption papers together for Conner, and her whisper campaign (and if his mother was any less of a good person he would be concerned at how good she was at manipulating the town) was going well, at least one of her friends was convinced that Martha had told her about their plans for adopting another child months ago.

So, Superman was pleased. Which was probably why Batman was glaring at him.

He didn’t know why Batman was so dead set on him being a father figure. Superboy had understood when they finally talked things out on Sunday, a little disappointed but understanding, and as Ladybug predicted, thrilled that Superman wanted him as a little brother. Though that could have just been thrilled at being considered family, given his reaction to the tour of the fortress and being given a kryptonian name.

J’onn, Hawkman, Captain Atom and Hal Jordan were off world, and Wonder Woman was taking her vacation time to Themyscira, so once Doctor Fate was seated, Batman immediately started the meeting.

“Superman, do you care to explain why Superboy has been allowed past the Superhero Ban in France?”

“Cadmus used Ladybug’s mitochondrial dna to stabilize Superboy’s genetics, and she found out.” Superman explained. “She’s also pretty close to furious that after France declared the ban a foreign government went and stole her DNA while she was a minor. If she was able, she’d have taken him in immediately. We had an interesting meeting about it. The mother I told you about who was seeking help for her son? That was Ladybug.” 

“Are you aware of how much trouble this causes us?”

“What? That Cadmus gets called out for assaulting and kidnapping minors for their dna and then brainwashing and enslaving the result?” Black Canary immediately jumped on that, and Superman was relieved to see Green Arrow paying attention as well, the man had been merely going through the motions lately. “We have no power or argument against Cadmus as long as they are supported by the government. The only thing we can do is publicly ally with S.T.A.R. Labs, which we’ve already done. Ladybug standing up and calling them out with her government rallying behind her? That gets attention and we might get information on Speedy.”

“I also agree with Superman and Black Canary.” Red Tornado spoke up. “The benefits of Ladybug claiming partial custody of Superboy far outweigh the risks of such an action.”

“Partial Custody?” Captain Marvel asked. 

“He still has duties with the team, and I will be training him as well. Seeing he has mostly same powers I had at that age, there’s a chance that the older he gets, the more powers like mine he’ll develop.” Superman explained. “However, in the event of Ladybug’s death, he will become the next wielder of her powers and be removed from the team to continue her job.”

Superboy hadn’t liked that, neither had Superman, but Ladybug had simply pointed out that it was a necessary worst case scenario to consider, and both had reluctantly agreed.

(Honestly, if the agreement right now wasn’t she would avoid the League, Superman would love to see her go against Batman.)

“Ladybug... as in the Miraculous?” Dr. Fate asked. “They’ve been activated after all this time?”

“... they’ve been active for the past four or five years. Something we should know?”

“They can be powerful allies or equally dangerous foes, why is she not part of the League?”

“Several reasons, not the least being another miraculous fell into evil hands and was used to brainwash a few heroes who wanted glory and nearly killed her as a result. France has refused all League aid since, we have to respect that.”

“She does not have an ill view of the League, though?”

“She doesn’t care about the league either way, though she might help Superboy and I if we need it.”

“Ah, that’s good.”

“What aren’t you saying?” Hawkwoman asked, looking at him.

“... Ladybug has the power of good luck, and if the Black Cat is also in play, which it must be for balance, they are capable of causing misfortune to those that draw their ire. That said, it is far better for them to have wielders than it is for the Kwamis to roam free, don’t you agree, Aquaman?”

“That was long before my time.” Aquaman noticed the looks and sighed. “The legend goes that the last king before Atlantis went under the waves executed a wielder of the Black Cat miraculous ... and in revenge, the black cat Kwami sunk it. The exact details of the legend vary, but unless the wielder is obviously attacking innocents... the preference is to ignore or avoid the miraculous wielders. Ladybug is trustworthy?”

“Yes.” Superman chose not to elaborate on that.

“We’ll keep an eye on the situation as it develops, but for now, Stewart, you had information to share?” Hawkwoman took charge before Batman could say anything else.

“Yes, Sinestro’s expanded his Yellow Lanterns, and there’s rumors of a Red Lantern on earth. There have been reports of red cat-like constructs in the following areas,” Stewart took over.

The meeting proceeded as normal, save for the end.

“I trust everyone received my email?” Black Canary stopped everyone. “Then I want to remind you all that vacation is mandatory for all of us, and we need to look after each other. We’ve all pushed ourselves to the limits before we had the League to rely on. Let’s not fall back into old habits just because we assume everyone’s okay.”

“I don’t require a vacation.” Dr. Fate pointed out.

“But Zatara does. The children report the same symptoms of exhaustion after allowing you control for even a short time. And Kent Nelson’s notes indicate he stopped wearing the helmet when he realized it was starting to drain him more than before. Zatara is not as young as the children are. You need to pick days off so he can recover. Your contract with him will not be tampered with by any of us or the Team, and if there is an emergency and you are needed we will of course call Zatara back.” Black Canary stared him down. “We can also see about getting volunteers to host you instead during those times. You do not need to answer me now, but I want you to seriously consider this: Zatanna’s reaction to you being unconscious was to try and free her father. I also want you to be aware that there are some who consider your possession of Zatara as merely the lesser of two evils. And that is a dangerous place for you to be. Now, I have just outlined several options for your consideration. Think about it.” Black Canary promptly turned to look at Superman, dismissing Dr. Fate. “That reminds me, I expect to see you and Superboy in my office on Sunday.”

“I’ll be there.” Superman promised. “I want to talk to you privately as well, if I may arrive early?” He stood up to leave, at which point everyone else began to stand and chat with each other.

“That’s fine.”

“Hold up, Canary, we have plans Sunday.” Green Arrow accosted them.

“I’ll be there, don’t worry. Our plans aren’t until eight, and the meeting is at three.” Black Canary looked amused.

Superman watched as Dr. Fate left. “What made you say something?” Zatara had made the decision to host Fate, while none of them had been happy, Fate had proved to be an ally ... but it was the first time Superman was hearing about side effects.

“After realizing that we often take it for granted that you can handle everything? We need our lines of communication open again. That includes treating Fate like anyone else.” 

Superman nodded, and reluctantly stayed back when Batman moved to cut him off from leaving. Green Arrow noticed as well.

“Need backup?”

“I’m afraid I already dodged this conversation long enough.”

Everyone else left, leaving Batman and Superman alone.

“I see you’re continuing to avoid responsibility for Superboy.”

“I gave him a Kryptonian name. Added him to the fortress security and introduced him to Krypto. He’s meeting my parents this Easter. That doesn’t count?” Superman asked, trying to keep the conversation light.

“You’ve also added Ladybug as a guest instructor and his mother, I’ve noticed.” Batman ignored that attempt.

“She needed access to him in case of emergencies.” Superman was unrepentant about that. “This may come as a shock, but I don’t want to be his father. I’m not comfortable with that. I am comfortable with being a brother.”

“You’re a genetic donor. They’re rarely brothers.” Batman pointed out. “You handled Robin just fine, the times he was with you.”

“One, watching a child is quite different than raising one; and two, I spent the entire time terrified I was going to hurt him on accident!” Superman felt exasperated. The handful of times he’d watched Robin- including a couple times of impersonating Batman when Bruce Wayne needed saving- did not mean he was qualified to raise a child. Robin was a teen now, but having watched a tiny pre-teen face off against gangsters with guns had been nerve wracking.

(Sparring had been even worse, the handful of times Robin had asked. He’d been terrified of accidentally breaking the boy’s bones.)

If that was what Batman was basing his expectations on ... well, that wasn’t the best foundation.

“With your search for anything related to Krypton, I thought you would have jumped at the chance to help him.”

“So I was supposed to immediately take in clone of me that was meant to kill and replace me? For all we knew it was a ploy to find out my identity and kill my family.” Superman studied Batman. “Besides, Clark Kent doesn’t exactly have the misspent youth that would allow him to have a teenage son appear on his doorstep, or the salary for it either.”

Batman’s retort was cut off by Captain Marvel returning to the meeting room.

“Hey guys, I looked up Ladybug and it looks like she’s fighting a kuma or whatever it’s called? Anyway, looks like another one just joined.”

“Why were you looking up Ladybug?”

“Well, I was checking out the news, to see what you were talking about, and apparently the first one’s trying to eliminate all men, and the other is ... a boar with wings? If you guys want to see?”

“We’ll be right there. We’ll continue this later.” Batman began to follow Captain Marvel. “I want to meet her.”

“I can’t make promises for her, but I’ll pass on the message.” Superman followed, curious as to how Ladybug was doing.

Hopefully Conner would have an easier time introducing his mother to his team.

* * *

April 21st

Conner was going to hit something. Maybe he could convince Superman to spar with him before they left to meet Superman’s parents. Ever since the news broke, there had been multiple akuma attacks in Paris, three of which had caused communication blackouts that had lasted for over a day as information from Cadmus had leaked onto the web, each with a worse crime than the last and causing outrage- as well as giving a little kid (who had snuck behind his parents while they watched the news) nightmares bad enough to be akumatized over with some of the leaked videos showing that the methods of DNA extraction were more like torture than safe experiments.

His mother had been exhausted the last time she had called to check in with him. It had been another Mass Akumatization and it had taken her four days to run the gauntlet of past Akumas to get to Hawkmoth.

“He’s getting better with these things.” His mother had groaned. “Sorry it took so long to deal with. The good news is Hawkmoth should be unconscious for a while, the bad news is that I might have accidentally damaged the Butterfly miraculous in the process. And I’m sorry I haven’t been able to get away to visit you and your team yet.” His mother looked to be perched on the Eiffel Tower, apparently she occasionally went for a run around Paris to relieve stress.

“It’s okay Mom. I downloaded the global version of the Akuma Alert App, so did the rest of the team ... it went off a lot. Robin was able to get the Paris news to see the footage- you and your team are amazing.” And Conner had watched them get thrown through buildings and there had been that time an akuma had knocked his mother out, so they’d been forced to retreat... Conner was not going to get that image out of his head anytime soon. As frustrating as it was, his mother and the two people in her team were the only heroes in Paris, and she needed to be there when the akumas attacked. 

“Still, I feel bad for not being able to get over there like we planned. I was planning on having you help out when the mass Akumatization happened, but they did a good job of keeping me from leaving.”

“It’s okay Mom, school has been pretty busy for me, as well as everyone else, M’gann’s still at cheerleading practice there’s a competition coming up.” Conner assured her. “And we had a couple missions as well. And I got to help Superman out in Metropolis!” He was excited about that, it had been fun.

“I heard.” His mother looked amused. “I got a three hour lecture on why the Prankster is different from the Joker and the Trickster. Alya, my best friend from College, is the Ladyblogger, and a very big fan of Lois Lane and Superheroes in general.”

“... You’ve seen the article already, then?” Conner winced. Lois Lane was intense, she had all but leapt over rubble to get an interview with Superman and himself, and Conner’s decision to use Superman as a living shield partway through her questioning had made her decide that he was overly sheltered and needed to learn how to deal with people.

For her, that meant excessive questioning about things he didn’t want to talk about.

“Yes. And I wouldn’t worry, from the looks of it, she’s trying to one up Clark Kent’s article by interviewing both of you at the same time.” His mother was amused. “Did you really hide behind Superman?”

“She’s terrifying- Mom!” Conner watched as his mother laughed.

“Sorry dear, remind me to show you some of my first interviews- you’ll notice I once used Chat Noir as a shield when one reporter startled me.” His mom smiled. “I can also send you some tips on how to handle being interviewed, and I’m sure Superman can help you practice.”

“I’d rather not have to talk at all.” Conner muttered.

“Then we set up a system so you can tap out of an interview if you’re uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Superman and I are very public figures, and reporters are going to want to talk to you so we won’t be able to avoid it completely.” Marinette scowled at that. “You’d think they’d understand the concept of secret identity.”

“Yeah. Oh.” He heard the sound of the entrance opening. “He’s here.”

“Have fun. I love you.” 

Conner felt his throat clog up. “You too.” He hung up reluctantly.

“Ready to go?” Superman entered, and it was still weird seeing him in civilian clothes. “We were going to be on a commercial flight, but a certain Bat decided to meddle. Again.”

“Are you two friends or ...?”

“We’re friends, this is him trying to help. And possibly trying to catch your mother. I mentioned she might visit, and he might’ve taken it to mean she was going to be at the airport.”

“... he doesn’t know she can teleport?”

“He does. I’m not sure what he’s thinking.” Clark shrugged.

“Alright. I’m ready.”

The flight was no where near long enough to put him at ease... neither was the drive to what had to be the middle of nowhere.

The farm and house were nice, and Conner cautiously followed Clark up the steps, where a woman answered the door.

“Welcome Home Clark.” The woman hugged Clark. “You must be Conner, I’m Martha Kent, it’s wonderful to meet you at last.”

“Hi.” Conner wasn’t prepared for the hug.

“Clark will get your bags, come in.” Martha pulled him into the house. “Now, we set up the guest bedroom for you, but feel free to start rearranging it to your liking.” She led him upstairs. “Clark’s room is right next to yours, you’ll be sharing a bathroom.” She opened the door to show him a nice room, but his attention was caught by a red pillow in the shape of a Ladybug, and he picked it up. It felt warm and some of the tension in his body loosened almost immediately. “Your mother sent it over. She was annoyed that she wasn’t able to get to you with that villain of hers acting up, she thought it would help you relax.”

“It does.” Conner admitted.

“I’m glad. Dinner’s in a couple hours, if you want to relax a bit or explore. Jonathan had to go into town for a tractor part.”

“Don’t tell me that old thing has broken down again?” Clark brought his bag to the room.

“Afraid so. I’ll let you boys get settled, I’m downstairs if you need anything.” Martha left.

“How are you holding up?” Clark asked.

“Okay, I guess. She seems nice.” Conner 

“Ma can come on a little strong at times... but your mom and her got along like a house on fire when Ladybug stopped by.”

“Really? Mom said she liked her.” Conner put the ladybug down.

“Really. And if it gets overwhelming, let me know.” Clark offered. “I can run interference.”

“Thanks Clark.” Conner smiled.

“No problem.”

The Kent house was nice, safe. Yet Conner couldn’t quite relax that night. It felt like something was missing.

He followed Clark and Jonathan out in the morning, watching them do the chores, and hesitantly helping them when Jonathan asked if he wanted to help. He was rather dreading Easter Sunday, to be honest, especially once the news came on with information about a Cadmus scientist being brought before an ethics committee. Lois Lane could be spotted in the press section.

Clark gently rested a hand on his shoulder. “It’s going to be alright.”

Conner believed him. “Why were they even allowed to operate in the first place?” He asked.

“A few reasons, including the fact that there are the villains that can use mind control on others. Having a way to take down a mind controlled superhero to protect civilians is a good idea in theory ... but they’ve gone too far, with what they did to you, Speedy and Red Arrow.”

“What’s interesting to me is the way that horrible Godfrey fellow is handling this.” Martha spoke up from where she was repairing shirts.

“Martha, you said you’d stop watching him.” Jonathan scolded.

“Dear, I know he’s trying to rile people up. Inflammatory word use, insisting that he holds those in power accountable when all he does is further muddy the issue; he’s very charismatic, but I’d love to see him get the boot. Anyway, he’s not touched on it save for the attempt to claim Superman had to have willingly worked with Cadmus in order for them to have his DNA. Once that was disproven, he backed off. I’d keep an eye on him, Clark.” Martha suggested.

“I will, Ma.” Clark promised. Jonathan changed the channel to sports. The conversation turned to Sports at that point. It was kind of nice. 

The next morning, after Conner once again helped with the chores despite Martha’s offer of sleeping in, around eleven there was a flash of light and Clark glanced outside and opened the door. 

“Hello!” Was the cheerful greeting Ladybug gave as she walked in with a duffel bag, giving a quick hug to Clark. Her clothes looked a little more civilian than superhero... though it looked like she was dressed for riding a motorcycle, and she still had her mask. A Kwami that looked like a horse immediately went over to Martha.

“Mom!” Conner got up and hugged her.

“Conner!” His mom beamed as she returned the hug. The duffel bag unzipped itself and Conner was tackled by two dolls as his mom pulled back to let his siblings greet him.

‘Little Brother!’ Chaton Noir purred. ‘We missed you!’

‘I brought crayons!’ Littlebug informed him. ‘Minimouse and Pik are still in Paris, but they signed a card!’

“Missed you guys too.” Conner smiled.

“Good to see you, dear.” Martha hugged Ladybug, Kaalki was now enjoying sugar cubes that Jonathan was holding out for her. “How are you doing, I’ve been looking at the news from Paris- did the city really try to fly?”

“Doing great, and yes part of it did, but thanks to that I managed to come up with a new plan, so ...” she de transformed. “Meet Tikki, the Ladybug Kwami.”

“Pleasure to meet you, thank you for helping Marietta and Conner!” Tikki beamed, “We decided it was safe for Marietta to not be transformed here, we’ll just transform if someone stops by. Thanks to the news there’s now a global Akuma Warning App, and it tested out well! You’ll still have to figure out her real name though, Conner can’t help!” Tikki flew over to land in Conner’s hair, making him look up. “Promise?”

“Promise.” He smiled up at the Kwami, who beamed.

“Also, Tikki wants apple pie and was jealous of me last time.” Kaalki snitched on Tikki. Who chose to do the mature thing and ignore the horse Kwami by flying over and talking to Clark, who politely offered her one of the biscuits he was eating. Conner introduced the dolls to Jonathan and Martha, who took the living dolls in stride.

“Speaking of, here’s a couple of hints.” Marinette pulled out a box of pastries from her parents bakery and a French fashion magazine. “And ... I have something for Jonathan and Martha ... it’s a little presumptive of me, but Conner knows part of this story. I’ve made living dolls since I was fourteen, Chaton was the first, and after a rather unfortunate turn of events revealing the temporary holders of the miraculous, I made dolls in the shape of those heroes and gave them to them so they could be protected ... all except for one, who was the reason their identities were revealed. I didn’t trust her not harm the last doll, so I hesitated in making her ... and I was wondering if you would take care of the last doll?” Marinette gently lifted the Queen Bee doll out of the duffel where she had been hiding. “Her ability is to temporarily paralyze someone... so she could paralyze an attacker if someone tried coming after you.” 

The doll was very obviously trying not to be scared. She was trying to stand tall, but she had a death grip on Marinette’s hand.

Martha walked over, and very gently took the doll from Marinette. “What’s her name?”

Jonathan got up to look at the doll.

“She doesn’t have one yet. That’s up to you. The superhero she was based on was called Queen Bee.”

“I think we’ll call you Honeybee.” Martha decided. “Though bees of any kind are good luck for farmers.”

“Clark, it looks like you get a little sister after all.” Jonathan smiled as Honeybee positively glowed at the acceptance.

“I’m glad.” Clark smiled. 

Martha kissed Honeybee on the top of her head. “I need to finish this casserole for church tomorrow, we go early.” She gently set Honeybee on the table, who was promptly pulled by Chaton Noir into exploring the food, only to get distracted by the fashion magazine and copying the poses of the models, Chaton joining her while Littlebug helped Jonathan with the crossword puzzle.

Marinette sat between Clark and Conner, relieved. Honeybee would do well here. She promptly rested her head on the table.

“Mom, you okay?”

“I figure out who Hawkmoth is, I am going to explain the concept of sleep and all the science behind why people need 8 hours of it. Also, why it’s not appropriate to akumatize kids 12 and under.”

“I’m sorry we can’t help.” Clark apologized.

“It’s ok, and honestly? Having a few safe havens outside of France so I can de-stress without risk of getting myself akumatized is the best thing ever.” Marinette admitted. “Also, I forgot about time zones. We’re about six hours earlier in France. Do you mind if I get you in the middle of the night or should I reserve that for weekends?”

“Probably just weekends during school.” Conner looked reluctant to admit that.

“And you still have to meet the team first.” Clark reminded her.

“Yeah ... about that.” Marinette grimaced. “Do you mind if I just grab Conner on weekends and if I meet them, I meet them? I don’t like that those Zeta things scan my biometrics and keep them in something easily hackable by a fourteen year old named Robin, whose mentor is apparently very interested in me. That pass means that the computer doesn’t scan me, right?”

“Right. Normally I would say you should stick to protocol, but you’re not actually League or the team so do what you think is best.” Clark smirked. “And honestly, as much as I am friends with Batman, he does need to learn that he can’t control everyone, so this will be good for him.”

Tikki giggled. “Ooh, We could help train the kids! That would be fun! Conner said one of them doesn’t believe in magic?”

“Stress relief by pranking them sounds safe, but you need to make sure you don’t accidentally do damage to their teamwork.” Jonathan instructed.

‘We can help!’ Chaton jumped onto Conner’s shoulder. ‘Littlebug too!’

‘Stay. Protect Mama Papa.’ Honeybee’s voice was soft, but strong. Conner was surprised.

“I can hear her better than Pik. How is that possible?”

“I‘ve had her fabric cut out for years. It’s absorbed ambient magic over time.” Marinette explained. “Honestly, if events hadn’t played out the way they did, she would’ve been once of the first dolls made, as an apology that I couldn’t use Queen Bee again, though now I’m not sure that would’ve gone well.”

‘Long sleep, waiting.’ Honeybee added. Jonathan scooped her up and gently placed her on his shoulder. ‘Worth it.’

Conner watched, Littlebug drawing next to him, as his mother talked to Martha about baking while Clark talked to Tikki while Chaton used Clark as a jungle gym. Kaalki was talking to Jonathan about his family history and Honeybee, who had snuggled close to her new father, was happily listening.

The same warm feeling he’d had when he realized his mother wanted him had returned and he glanced down at Littlebug as she tapped his arm. She had a drawing of everyone in the room, plus Chat Noir, Minimouse and Pik. ‘Family!’

“Yeah, Family.” Conner kissed her head like he’d seen Ma do.

This place could definitely be home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have rewritten this chapter five times.
> 
> Yes, The Prankster is a Superman villain and is different from the Joker (Batman villain) the Trickster (Flash rogue) and is not to be confused with Toyman. I can imagine Alya has an entire presentation on villains from around the world.
> 
> Coming Soon: Conner’s first birthday
> 
> Some events mentioned here happened during his birthday, but that’s still being written.
> 
> Next Chapter: the team meets Ladybug, and Wally is easily bribed with food.


	7. Always Keep a Little Prayer in your Pocket

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chaton and Littlebug are having fun at Mount Justice.
> 
> Wally is surprisingly bribable.

Chaton watched his target carefully. The one called Zatanna, codenamed Annataz by his sister for this mission, was a very high level target, like Mama-level high with her magic. He had to be careful! Cautiously, he crept behind her, she turned and... now! He grabbed her brush and ran off quickly.

“Hey!”

He’d been spotted! Chaton booked it to his sanctuary, still carrying his prize. 

There was a sound of a collision behind him.

“Zatanna, what are you doing?”

“Catch it!”

“What the?!”

New plan. Find Little Brother. Chaton sped up as fast as he could go, carrying his prize over his head.

‘Little Brother, help!’ He barreled into the room his little brother was in, and was promptly scooped up by said little brother.

“Conner, what is that?”

Oops. That’s right, Monsieur Bat was here, and he was supposed to stay hidden as much as possible.

* * *

Conner had been having a nice talk (and not so subtle interrogation) by Batman and Kaldur about his mother visiting. (Unfortunately, the answers were ‘not sure’ and ‘I don’t know’.) Chaton and Littlebug had come back to the mountain with him after Easter and were hopefully enough exposure to his mother’s magic for healing, and were supposed to stay hidden as much as possible.

“This is Chaton Noir, my older brother who was made with Mom’s magic. He and Littlebug my older sister are staying with me for the time being.” Conner explained.

“That doesn’t explain why he stole my hairbrush!” Zatanna informed him, Rocket and Artemis right behind her.

“Why-“ Conner looked at Chaton who immediately started with the kitten eyes. (Zatanna ended up cooing at the cuteness despite herself.)

‘We need it! We’ll give it back once we’re done!’

“Why would you two need a hairbrush? Neither of you have hair- wait, where’s Littlebug?”

“She’s in my room.” M’gann offered. Conner immediately went to her room, the others following.

“Littlebug, what are you-?” Chaton hopped out of his hands and hopped in a basket that Littlebug was in. He promptly used the brush to knock over a textbook that was just out of his reach.

The book was one of several and the last landed on a birdarang which flipped Cheshire’s mask and set off another domino effect of books, knocking off a pile of books that sent the basket up to the light, which had a burnt out bulb. The two quickly changed the light (and they had tiny oven mitts, did mom send them with them?) and then used a second string to slide the basket down to one of M’gann’s shelves.

The two hopped out of the basket and gave a theatrical bow to their gathered audience.

“Thanks! I’ve been meaning to replace that bulb for weeks.” M’gann clapped.

“That was cool, but is that something Mom would allow you to do?” Conner could feel a headache coming on. Both Chaton and Littlebug immediately acted innocent.

‘We do it at home!’ Chaton defended. It would’ve been more believable without the kitten eyes.

“Uh-huh. Please give the items that aren’t M’gann’s back to their owners, please.” Conner did a slight double take to see Robin with a video camera.

“What? This isn’t hackable.” Was his defense.

“They also need to apologize for taking the items in the first place.” Batman informed him.

“Huh?” Conner was confused. He could understand the dolls because they were related. How were they going to apologize to those that couldn’t understand?

“Oh, I can help!” M’gann untied the string still around her light. A second later, they all reacted to Chaton’s voice.

‘Here you go!’ Chaton held up the hairbrush. ‘Sorry for the trouble!’

“Thanks? Why do they sound younger than you?” Zatanna took the brush.

“They’re five, technically.” Conner admitted. 

‘Here!’ Littlebug held up the birdarang for Robin. ‘I’m sorry for taking it without your permission, but you were fun to sneak past!’

“That’s not an apology.” Batman pointed out.

‘But he was!’ Littlebug looked up at Batman. ‘So was Waterboy!’

“Aqualad.” Conner corrected, and looked at Kaldur. “I don’t know why she does that, Chaton uses the right name for you.”

‘Littlebug likes codes! She made up codenames for codenames!’ Chaton explained. He was giving Artemis back her textbooks. ‘Operation change lightbulb is a success!’

“Except for the part where you two got discovered.” Conner picked them both up. “I thought mom said you two were good at hiding?”

‘Boring! We want to play!’ Chaton leapt to M’gann. ‘Please?’

“You’ve already explored the entire mountain haven’t you?” Conner grimaced.

‘Tunnels are fun. We made sure to stay away from fans.’ Littlebug pointed to the askew vent cover. ‘Didn’t break them this time.’

“... Are siblings normally supposed to cause one anxiety?” Conner looked at Artemis and M’gann. “Or is this just because they’re living dolls and more delicate?”

“No idea!” Robin offered, glancing at Batman who ignored him.

“Nope, siblings are supposed to drive you crazy with worry, trust me.” Artemis looked annoyed. “Disappearing and then reappearing like nothing is wrong!”

“Something happen with Cheshire?” Kaldur asked.

“Caught her, err, flirting with Red Arrow, I don’t know which one I’m more annoyed with right now.” Artemis looked at the dolls. “And that’s getting off topic.”

“Right, why didn’t you tell us your siblings were here?” Kaldur looked at Conner.

“I was going to but you started asking me questions about mom.” Conner gave him and Batman a look in return. Littlebug climbed onto his shoulder. “Mom is still exhausted from the mass akumatization a couple weeks ago, and Chaton wanted to see M’gann again. Littlebug came because Chat Noir, her normal guardian, had to temporarily give her up or run the risk of his civilian family trying to get rid of her behind his back.”

‘Papa’s Father is scary.’ Littlebug admitted. ‘Doesn’t like Papa happy.’

“What do you mean?” Batman asked.

‘Papa’s Father always like this, gets unhappy because Papa is happy, then forgets about Papa until the next time he sees Papa happy.’ Chaton explained. ‘Hide until he forgets again.’

‘Mama has plans. Papa does too. Help Little Brother until then.’ Littlebug hugged Conner. 

Batman (and Black Canary, who had just joined the group to see what they were up to) looked angry at that. Conner wasn’t quite sure why.

“That sounds way too familiar.” Artemis muttered. 

“Can he not get out of there? He should be old enough by now.” Black Canary asked.

‘He tricked Papa, had him sign a contract, Mama furious with Papa’s Father.’Chaton didn’t seem to notice the anger. ‘No one likes Papa’s Father, he gets away with a lot of bad things. Can we play now? Wanna play with Wolf!’ Chaton was thoroughly done with the conversation.

“Of course.” Black Canary pulled Batman away from the door. “There’s things we all should be doing, Batman and I have a meeting.”

“Right.”

“C’mon, I’ll show you the board games!” M’gann took Chaton with her, and everyone else quickly took their things back to their rooms.

Conner’s attention was caught by the adults talking.

“We don’t have a meeting, what’s wrong?” Batman asked.

“Other than the fact that we just learned one of the Paris heroes is in a bad family situation? We need to talk.”

Conner stopped listening at that point as Littlebug wanted her art supplies.

* * *

Kaldur stopped by Artemis’ room. “Why was Cheshire flirting with Red Arrow?”

“Less flirting, more lip locking... and I don’t know! He didn’t seem to mind until he noticed me.” Artemis looked annoyed. “Now he’s not talking to me. You might have better luck. I swear, if she’s stringing him along...”

As far as Artemis was concerned, Red Arrow counted as a sibling, no matter which family she was thinking about. And as much as she cared about her sister, she was not going to let her mess up Red Arrow even more than he already was with the cloning issue.

“Have you told Green Arrow?”

“Nope, he’s doing his best but he’s still having a freak out over not knowing Speedy was kidnapped and replaced.” Artemis sighed. “We kinda had to stop him from going after my dad after the fact once he learned my Dad was Red Arrow’s handler. That was fun.”

“What happened?”

“We ended up watching old movies with my mom and Canary. Ever hear of the Grey Ghost?”

* * *

Wally did not believe in Magic. What he did believe in was science, and was convinced that Atlantean science was a mix of hydrokinesis and energy manipulation for the lightning. In fact, most magic powers were probably just a matter of energy manipulation with the users convinced that they had to say the right words being a psychological element to why occasionally their powers flubbed.

Living dolls? Obviously a unique application of energy manipulation that granted them sentience. Souls were most likely some form of energy, so it was quite possible that Ladybug had managed to manipulate the correct energy frequency to create souls that animated the dolls without the need of a skeleton.

(Zatanna had actually yelled in frustration when he had told her that. Kaldur had patted her shoulder and Littlebug got some cookies to calm her down.) 

“So, how do you create that wormhole?” Wally asked Ladybug when she appeared in their kitchen in the middle of the night (he’d needed a snack, his fast metabolism could be a pain sometimes, and he’d quickly dashed to put on his costume when she appeared) and started unloading unmarked boxes of pastries.

“Ah, Conner mentioned that. Would you mind accepting ‘magic’ for an answer untilI can come up with the right words for you? Not sure what the right English translation is.” She gave him a small cake. “Please consider this a bribe.”

“Okay.” Wally dug in happily. “Aren’t you supposed to meet with Kaldur on the mainland before coming here?”

“Supposed to, but after this last month I am too tired to do the right thing regarding your rules. Especially since he had to cancel the last time due to missions-“ she was interrupted by a beeping sound from her Yo-yo. “I’m taking Superboy with me today.” 

“Want me to get him?” Wally quickly woke up Conner and the dolls.

“Thank you, Kid Flash.”

“You’re welcome, my fair lady!” Wally grinned, giving her a bow. Conner had glared at him, but Ladybug had laughed.

Chaton and Littlebug joined him for his midnight snack, before going back to sleep.

“Where’s Conner?” M’gann asked when it was time for breakfast.

‘Mama needed help fighting an akuma.’ Chaton reported.

‘News!’ Littlebug pointed at the TV.

“How did she get passed our security?” Red Tornado asked as Robin brought up the Paris news station. 

“Magic.” Wally ignored the incredulous looks from everyone else. “She brought us food, by the way.” The French newscaster was talking, and Robin did something in order to get a spoken translation.

“- Mime and the Sentimonster Airship were taken down by our heroes and the debut of Superboy. The son of Ladybug did not use a miraculous and yet despite previous fears, Ladybug’s cure did undo the damage done by his super strength. The cause of akumatization was not related to the newest Cadmus leak, but it was due to someone stalking his daughter. The perpetrator has been taken into police custody for questioning, more on that later.” 

“Thank you, Nadja, for those of who just tuning in, here’s the ladyblogger’s interview with Superboy during the attack.”

The image on screen was Superboy lifting a car off the ground while a woman dressed like a rabbit picked up the woman who had been trapped underneath.

“Superboy! A word!”

Superboy just gave her an odd look before ripping a door off another nearby car in order to get a child out and into their parent’s arms. “You need to get off the street, it is dangerous here.” 

“So what’s it like knowing your mom is Ladybug?”

“...” Superboy ignored that in favor of getting a bus’ doors open so people could get out.

“Okay, so this is the first time you’re helping with an akuma attack, why now?”

“Time zones were a challenge.” Was the clipped response. Superboy grabbed an empty car to block a cannonball from the airship. “You need to get off the street and to a shelter.” 

“What is your thought on Cadmus?”

“Trouble.” With that, and judging from what the camera captured, Superboy picked up the ladyblogger, jumped out of the way of several cannonballs, and deposited her into the arms of a cop who kept her from running after Superboy as he went back to the fight, rejoined by the rabbit woman.

“Not the best interview, but his dedication to helping others is commendable.” Was the newsman’s comment. “All those saved by Superboy have come forward, vouching for his cool head under fire and one was able to get this video just before the heroes left.”

The video was shaky, but the the image was the four heroes.

“Looking forward to working with you again, kid.” The rabbit woman gently punched Superboy in the shoulder before taking off.

“Likewise. My lady, it’s always an effort to leave.” Chat Noir kissed Ladybug’s hand and then pole vaulted away.

“Is he always like that?”

“Worse I’m afraid. Let’s get you home.” Ladybug actually picked up Superboy and swung away.

The news then went into more speculation. Robin hit mute.

“Who’s the Ladyblogger?” Wally asked.

“Name’s Alya Cesaire, she’s been covering Ladybug and Chat Noir since they showed up.” Robin shrugged. “I thought two of her friends fit the Ladybug and Chat Noir profiles, especially with that textbook clue, but there are videos of the four of them together and several times of the two obviously not in the right area.” 

They all jumped as a portal opened up and Ladybug and Superboy came through. It closed and the two didn’t seem surprised to see them there.

‘Mama! Little Brother!’ The dolls cheered.

Ladybug chuckled and hugged them before passing them to Conner. “I apologize for dropping in like this, but Hawkmoth is no longer giving any quarter.” She looked over at Kaldur. “I know that this is stepping over the boundaries we initially set.” 

“Is the situation really that bad?” Kaldur asked.

“I’m afraid so. Sorry, I’m being rude, I’m Ladybug it’s nice to meet you, Aqualad.”

“It’s an honor.” Kaldur shook her hand. “Allow me to introduce the team, you’ve met M’gann, this is Zatanna, Artemis, Robin, Rocket and Kid Flash.”

“We met this morning. You’re prettier in daylight.” Wally grinned. “Thanks for the cake!”

“You’re welcome.” Ladybug smiled. “It’s nice to meet you all at last, mind if I stick around for a bit? I have time before I need to return to France, and I would like to get to know all of you.”

Robin grinned. “It would be asterious! You guys started out pretty young right? Did you have a mentor?”

“Mmhmm. We had a mentor, but they weren’t able to fight, and we lost them early on.”

“Oh.” Robin winced. Wally elbowed him.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to mislead you, they didn’t die, they just completely lost their memory. It was a fail safe they had put in place in case of capture and unfortunately, Hawkmoth did capture them.” Ladybug corrected herself. “We had to figure out how to do everything after that, and they had to leave the country.” 

“Still, that’s rough.”

The idea of losing a mentor was horrible to all of them.

“It was a rough time, but we couldn’t give up.” Ladybug smiled. “And we got through it.”

“So, you and Chat Noir are an item, huh?”

“Not officially. Or at least, not as civilians ... we actually haven’t seen each other as civilians lately. Things have been difficult juggling our secret identities lately.”

They were all still talking together when Black Canary came in.

“Ah, you must be Ladybug, I thought you had agreed to meet elsewhere first?”

“It’s nice to meet you, Black Canary. Unfortunately, I no longer have that luxury, and I have very little interest in having my biometrics scanned and saved onto a hackable computer.” It was a little jarring to see Ladybug go from teasing to professional the moment Black Canary spoke.

“Our systems are very secure, I assure you.” Black Canary was surprised.

Ladybug just glanced at Robin, who looked sheepish. He had just been bragging about being able to hack anything.

“You don’t trust us.”

“Currently, your government allows a weapons lab to steal DNA. I’m not going to give them a chance to try again.” Ladybug corrected. “I will be keeping myself off the grid as much as possible when I come here, and that includes your systems.”

“That’s fair.” Black Canary admitted. “I would like to talk to you privately at some point.”

“It will have to be my next visit.” Ladybug looked at the clock. “I need to get going.”

She got up, and was promptly hugged by the dolls and Conner, M’gann quickly getting a hug as well.

“Be careful.” Conner muttered.

“I will. Love you three.” Ladybug’s arm lit up. “Voyage!” She was through the portal quickly. But they all got a brief view of Paris from the very top of Eiffel Tower. 

“Wow. That’s cool.” Wally blinked. “Hey, next time you talk to her, ask her to bring more food the next time she visits.” 

The pillow Artemis threw at him was completely unwarranted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh, a part of me loves that Wally doesn’t really believe in magic. It makes it really fun.
> 
> Chaton and Littlebug are going to have a lot of fun having the run of the mountain. Conner may go prematurely grey, though.
> 
> Marinette is going to be wary of the League for a while.


	8. And you’re sure to see the light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we have some world building.

Paris, France

“New files have been released from Cadmus, sir.” Nathalie Sancoer sent the copy of the files that were trending to his computer. “More scientists have been revealed, and now several guards have been revealed as well.”

“I’m sure it’s fascinating, is there anything to keep Superboy from becoming a problem?”

“No sir, we shall simply have to make sure that the Akumas take him out first.”

Duusu watched them silently. Nooroo was still recovering from the damage Ladybug had done when Hawkmoth had last confronted her. Thankfully they had still had enough of the spell ingredients from repairing his miraculous, but the drain was still bad, especially when Gabriel had forced the transformation right after to test it.

The two wielders had such potential for good, but their protective and loyal tendencies had been so twisted ... it was painful to sense. Kwami’s were limited and bound by their miraculous, making them safe to be used in the world. But that didn’t mean they were risk free.

Everything had a balance. There were rules to insure that balance. The offerings of Food being one. They didn’t require food, but it was a nice trade for use of their powers. (Some of them were picky about what was a proper offering, Plagg in particular came to mind, others were less so, though they all had favorite foods.)

And there had to be a certain amount of agreement between Kwami and wielder. The young heroes had that, but Gabriel and Nathalie? They did not. The instant their miraculous was taken in battle by Ladybug and Chat Noir, they were going to get a karmic backlash that would leave them reeling.

(Still, Duusu felt bad. It was the fact his Miraculous was broken that had started this mess. He hoped Emilie was a good person, it would be easier to save her ... well, what was left of her. Years on life support were bound to have a negative impact on her in some way.)

Cadmus was a separate issue. Nooroo and Duusu had felt the pulse that was the rest of the Kwamis power, punishing those that had dared to steal a piece of Ladybug. They might be bonded to opposing wielders, but Gabriel and Nathalie had been disgusted when the video of the man yanking Ladybug’s hair had been shown. That tiny moment had been all the permission needed for Nooroo and Duusu to send their own power to the curse the others had made.

Regrettably, they couldn’t actually do anything against their wielders while they had the miraculous, or Duusu would be cursing Gabriel and Nathalie now.

“Have all the childish things been removed from Adrien’s room?”

“Yes, they’ve been replaced with proper materials for an adult. The only thing I couldn’t find was the Ladybug doll he had, though according to his bodyguard, he took it back to the maker so she could give it to a child.” Nathalie replied. “I did leave some of the video games, recent studies indicate that they have a positive effect on task management and reflexes as well as stress relief. I did remove the online multiplayer ones so he can’t come into contact with problematic people online.”

“Good. I do expect him to eventually stop those completely.” 

“I’ll let him know.”

How could they not see how twisted they had become? Duusu, unlike Nooroo, was not a mild mannered Kwami. Nooroo would be happy once he was rescued by Ladybug and Chat Noir. Duusu was going to hold a grudge against these two for a very long time. It didn’t matter that they had fixed his miraculous, they were misusing it! 

Daily Planet, Metropolis

Across the Atlantic in the Daily Planet newsroom, Lois Lane was researching everything she could find about Ladybug. Right now, she was looking at a fairly popular blog that had an exclusive interview that not even the Paris news had. Ladybug was very professional with the amateur blogger, who occasionally got tongue-tied with her questions.

“Ladyblog?” A voice asked, startling her.

“Gah- Smallville, wear a bell, will you?” Lois glared up at her friend and rival. The man was infuriating, not the least for the way her heart occasionally skipped a beat around him. Paradoxically it had gotten a lot worse after he managed to get to be the Daily Planet liaison with the league, and was therefore gone more. Didn’t help that her relationship with Superman had pretty much ended around the same time. 

“Sorry. What are you watching?” He pulled a chair over.

“It’s one of the earliest interviews with Ladybug. She talks about how her powers are luck based, how she was chosen before the first akuma appeared as it was sensed that the butterfly had fallen into evil hands. Though she neglects to say who sensed it and the Ladyblogger doesn’t follow through.” Which again was understandable as the blogger was young and star struck. “It’s a pretty promising blog, she’s done a few videos just for the sake of views, but she’s also removed videos and wrote a few retractions about things she posted without fact checking. I’ve cross referenced this to her personal blog and instagram. I thought I had a lead to a potential Ladybug, but, well ...” there was a video of the girl in question attempting parkour. She ended up falling into a dumpster and the lid coming down. 

“Is she alright?” Clark asked, sounding a little like he was trying not to laugh. Lois couldn’t blame him, she’d choked on her coffee the first time. Especially as the video was followed by a picture revealing the blogger had also ended up falling into the dumpster and the two girls were cracking up at their misfortune.

“The girl’s fine. She’s just a grade A klutz and then there’s this video.”

It was Ladybug swinging by with the girl, depositing her on a balcony before taking off. The Ladyblogger charged into the building to find her friend curled up on the ground.

“What happened?”

“Apparently she got caught in an akuma attack and Ladybug rescued her.” Lois stretched in her seat. “Anyway, you can tell that the blogger in question has grown up, there’s a couple changes in tone as she gets more experience and more professional, and a few slips where she gets excited by a scoop and doesn’t check her surroundings or her facts. She’s started translating articles into English as well.” Lois pulled up a tab for a Paris local news site. “I also found this. Near I can tell, this is fairly early on, probably one of the first interviews.”

“Ladybug!” A reporter shouted as he lunged in his attempt to get a scoop first, making the petite heroine jump with a yelp and hide behind her partner. To Chat Noir’s credit, he politely informed them they had to leave, before the two took off.

“Apparently, not wanting to talk to reporters is a genetic trait.” Lois was amused.

“She looks really young there.”

“Still trying to figure out how young but definitely a minor. Cadmus has had multiple scientists pulled up before various ethics committees this week alone.” Lois sighed. “What’s new with you, Smallville?”

“Well, my parents decided to adopt a teen.” Clark smiled. “So I now have a little brother.”

“Why? They’re pretty old ... No offense.”

“Ma read an article on how teens are often passed over for adoption, and according to her, it makes sense for an older couple to adopt an older child. Pa’s never been able to tell her ‘no’ when it comes family.”

“What’s his name?”

“Conner. He’s a good kid, smart too, he managed to track down his biological mom.”

“How’d that go for him?”

“Fairly well. Only, she didn’t give birth to him. Remember that IVF scandal in the nineties, where doctors used the eggs women had placed in storage without asking permission?”

“I remember. That happened to her?”

“Yes. She didn’t know and apparently the clinic she used shut down so she just forgot about it.”

“Until the kid showed up looking for her? Sounds like a b list movie plot.”

“Pretty much. Anyway, she can’t afford to take him in, in part due to the legal red tape, but her and Ma are in touch, so now I’ve sorta gotten a cousin as well.” Clark stretched and stood up. “I’m going to head out for lunch, you want to join me? It’s been a while since we’ve had lunch together.”

It had. Lois couldn’t remember the last time they had been out for lunch- just the occasional coffee, lately.

“You’re paying, Smallville. And I need you to drive me by my apartment.” Lois quickly saved everything. Now that she noticed the time, she was starving.

“Alright. May I ask why?”

“I need to grab my suitcase. I’m flying to Paris tonight.” 

“I thought you were banned?”

“Only as long as I was Superman’s girlfriend. You are the only one banned now, since you’ve been liaison to the League these past few years, but I am free to go. So the Ladybug and Superboy story is mine, Smallville.” Lois grinned at him, and her heart skipped a few beats as he gave her a warm smile in return.

“I’ll just have to cover the Cadmus angle then.” He said and Lois managed to regain her brain enough to reply.

“Oh good, you’ll be on page four then?” She got onto the elevator.

“You haven’t changed a bit, Lois.” He tapped the button for the lobby.

“Neither have you, Smallville.”

Stepping out of the elevator they ran into Jimmy Olsen.

Quite literally, as he was rushing to the elevator and slammed into Clark.

“Hey Jimmy, we’re headed to lunch, care to join us?”

“Can’t, I need to get these pictures uploaded now before Dale kills me.”

“His loss, c’mon Smallville, there’s a new cafe I like.” Lois slipped her arm through Clark’s in order to tug him to the door. She was sure half the floor could hear her stomach growling. She needed to remember to stock the snacks in her desk again.

“I don’t think the cafe is going to fly away, Lois.” Clark laughed.

Behind them, Jimmy did a double take at the sight. He then made a quick swing by the sports section to inform the unofficial office bookie that Clark Kent and Lois Lane had gone to lunch together.

By the time Clark returned, a very old scoreboard was dusted off and new bets were made on when the two would start dating. The two were well known for re-enacting the dialogue of Benedict and Beatrice while competing for the front page, and while the Daily Planet as a whole were supportive of Superman, and of the relationship Lois had had with him, they all agreed that Clark was a far more grounding influence for Lois. The only question was when the two of them would realize this.

(None of them were aware of the irony.)

Lex Corp, Metropolis

Across town, Lex Luthor stared at his computer. This was a problematic but not entirely unwelcome twist to his and the Light’s plans. Just because an ethics committee objected didn’t mean that the scientists couldn’t discretely continue their work, it would just take a bit of time to salvage the situation, and his connection to the clone had not been released. 

It also explained why Match, who had actually been made at the same time as Superboy (along with a handful of other clones that hadn’t included his DNA but those of other candidates that had fallen within the margin of error, but those had been stillborn at best), had been so unstable, the girl’s DNA had only been given to one clone as an experiment, and had proven to be far better at stabilizing the kryptonian DNA.

He was almost tempted to keep going. After his first attempt of cloning Superman with salvaged Kryptonian technology, he had known that they needed to try again, to have a Superman that would follow the Light. It was unfortunate that one was as unstable as the first, and the other decided that Superman was a good role model.

Still, Ladybug was a unique problem, one that they had elected to ignore as just an average pawn as they dealt with the justice league.

“And now the pawn has made it to the other side of the board to become a queen... she’s already created a disturbance by accepting Superboy.” He remarked aloud to Mercy, needing to get his thoughts in the open. “If something happens to her now, they’d immediately start with Cadmus.” Which he help funded, and he had been one of the ones to write the proposal to create Cadmus. It would be a worse problem if that got out.

Mercy didn’t respond, just watched the video of the so called Ladyblogger almost getting abducted by a so called akuma. The girl was worse than Lois Lane ever was, at least she knew when to start yelling for help, not almost cheerfully report on her kidnapping.

“I think I’ll try my luck going to Paris and speaking to her.” He called his secretary in.

“I’m sorry sir, but you can’t go to Paris.” The woman looked a little flustered. “The ban states that those suspected of villainy can only enter eight years after the initial suspicion. And given Superman once suspected you and even had a case brought against you-“

“That was dismissed out of court.” That was the last Lex had heard.

“It’s still on your record, sir. The closest you can possibly go is Monaco. Ms. Graves can confirm.”

Mercy nodded in agreement with the secretary.

“Well then, I’ll go to Monaco, I could use a relaxing trip.” The phone rang, and one of his warehouses was on fire. “Especially after I deal with this. Mercy.” 

By the time he got there, the fire was out, Superman was righting a fire truck and Superboy carrying a person to a waiting stretcher. The police and fire chief had the area roped off and were interviewing the more alert workers.

“I don’t suppose you know what started the fire, Superman?”

“Looks to have been sabotage, your men mentioned seeing someone snooping around just before the fire started. Luckily they weren’t in the area when the tanks exploded. It burned hotter than expected.”

It’s a shame Superman will never actually be his ally, Lex could use him far better than the hero was doing on his own.

“That would be the acetylene, we make it for welders.” Lex was going to have to come up with new safety measures. Again.

“Mr. Luthor, we’re going to need a statement.” The fire chief and arson investigator came up.

“Of course, I’ve got time before my flight.” Mercy came up behind him with a tablet.

“Oh? Where are you headed?” The arson investigator flipped to a new sheet.

“Monaco.” Lex looked at Superman and Superboy when he answered. Superboy didn’t react, most likely hadn’t heard of it, but Superman frowned slightly, before turning and leaving with Superboy. “I thought I’d take a vacation.” Lex gave the arson investigator his full attention. 

Later, he’d have to see about talking to the two of them alone ... they were family after all.

Across the street in the crowd of gathered onlookers a young woman watched the scene. Her hair was pushed up under a baseball cap, and she turned away to leave now that the fire was under control. 

Mount Justice, Happy Harbor

Black Canary smiled as Littlebug gave her a crayon portrait of the superhero. The fridge was starting to get covered. She turned back to her tablet as she read the news.

“Is that doll moving?”

“Yes she is.” Black Canary looked up at Red Arrow and Green Arrow as the two cautiously approached. “Meet Superboy’s older sister, Littlebug. Littlebug, this is Green Arrow and Red Arrow.”

The doll cheerfully waved, before returning to drawing.

“There’s a second one, isn’t there?”

“Chaton is with Zatanna, she’s having a bad day.” The two dolls were fairly attuned to people’s moods, and Chaton would start purring the moment he sensed distress. He’d latched onto Zatanna when she started crying and hadn’t let go.

“Sorry to hear that.” Green Arrow sighed. “Nothing from Fate, then?”

“Not yet.” Black Canary smiled as Littlebug nudged a plate of cookies towards her. “So, what brings you two my way?”

“A new Cadmus leak. A list of nameless people that were killed by the cloning experiments. One matches Speedy’s description.” Red Arrow passed her a copy of the list in question.

“But we don’t know if it was Speedy.” Black Canary pointed out, the description could be any fifteen year old.

“And yet all I can think is ‘What if’.” Green Arrow was startled as Littlebug held up a cookie for him. “Ah, thanks?” 

Littlebug waved, then grabbed another cookie for Red Arrow. Once he accepted it, she tuned out of the conversation to continue her drawing, and try to think of codenames for them. Maybe follow the theme with Emerald? Tough call. She jumped, startled, when Red Arrow was suddenly shouting.

“I’m not the real Roy!”

Littlebug was confused by the shouting, but there was a lot of distress. Why would someone that wasn’t a doll say they weren’t real? This was a bad thing to say. Mama had been real upset when Pik had said that.

Red Arrow started storming off. Littlebug launched herself onto Green Arrow’s shoulder so they didn’t leave her behind. She ended up clinging to the quiver. She batted at thefeathers attached in curiosity. Maybe she could keep an arrow?

Littlebug shook her head, refocusing on helping.

The computer announced the return of her little brother and their big adoptive brother.

‘Little brother, stop him!’

Her little brother didn’t question it, just blocked Red Arrow from leaving.

Only, Red Arrow was really really upset and punched him. And tried to kick him. Little brother ended up restraining him.

“What’s going on?” Little brother asked.

“That’s my question!” Red Arrow growled. Littlebug had to scramble to be seen.

‘He got upset and said he wasn’t real!’ Littlebug reported as she moved, startling Green Arrow who hadn’t noticed she was on him.

“... Littlebug says you got mad and said you weren’t real?” Little brother paused. “This is a Pik thing isn’t it?”

“Pick?”

‘Pik kept saying he wasn’t real, Mama cried!’ Littlebug waved her arms so hard Green Arrow had to hold her. ‘That’s not a good thing to say! He can’t say it!’

“Okay... you’re banned from saying any variation of ‘I’m not real’.” Little brother helped Red Arrow up. “Apparently it’s a banned phrase at home.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Littlebug is technically older than both of us.” Little brother shrugged. “And one of the dolls got torn apart by a girl who didn’t know they were real, so it’s kinda a big deal for them.”

“Good to know.” Red Arrow grumbled.

Littlebug got distracted by the feathers on the arrows again. She started to try and pull one out to see it.

Someone scooped her up. Littlebug waved at her big adoptive brother, but tried to get back to the arrows, she could use one of these!

“Older, huh?” Red Arrow asked.

“Doesn’t mean she’s more mature.” Little brother sighed. “Sorry about that, she was upset, last time was because Wally stole her food.”

“I’m fine. Wait, she can eat?!”

“That can’t be the weirdest thing you’ve ever heard.”

“How?!”

“I don’t know.”

Since finding out he was not only the mole he was trying to hunt, but also a clone, the only thing keeping Red Arrow going was his quest to find the real Speedy. 

Everyone was being supportive, but he couldn’t help wonder what would happen if he did find Speedy, would they still want him then?

And what if Speedy was dead? Was he going to have to pretend to be him?

So many questions, but no answers.

And Cheshire did a great job of spinning his head around, so having Artemis walk in on them during her patrol of Star City was even more awkward. At least she hadn’t said anything to Green Arrow. 

Living dolls though were definitely up there in ‘how is this even possible’.

“I see, we’ll have to keep an eye on the leaks.” Superman frowned once he got caught up on everything. They had returned to the kitchen area and were sitting down to talk. The doll, Littlebug was sitting on his shoulder and happily eating a cookie.

Next to him, Superboy shifted. “Littlebug suggests asking Ladybug about how to find Speedy. I don’t know how much she can help, though. Especially if Luthor is going to use his trip to Monaco to try and track her down.”

Littlebug waved her cookie, before finishing it in two bites.

“Littlebug, that’s not how that works. There are rules for Mom-“ Superboy was cut off by something she was saying. “Mom did what?!”

“Care to share with the rest of us?” Red Arrow asked.

“‘Technically it wasn’t Mom’ doesn’t make it better!” Superboy noticed the looks “... um ... so, Ladybug’s jewelry allows her to channel the power of a kwami- a little god- and apparently Cadmus stealing her DNA is something that the Kwamis didn’t like, so they’ve cursed Cadmus for it. So they might let mom help find Speedy?”

“... Out of curiosity, are the leaks the result of that curse?”

“She says probably. She fell asleep when Ladybug and Chat Noir were talking about it. The only condition she knows of was no deaths, so there’s that.”

“What’s this about a curse?” Zatanna came in wearing sweatpants and a tank top, with another doll on her shoulder.

“Apparently one was placed on Cadmus.” Green Arrow leaned back. “On the one hand, it’s technically our government, on the other, I’m furious with them, kidnapping is a felony.”

“I’m no good at removing curses anyway.” Zatanna sat down. The doll quickly grabbing cookies for both of them.

“I’ll call mom in the morning then, but I make no promises.”

“It gets better.” Black Canary looked very amused at something on her tablet. “The IRS is now investigating the names of personnel that have been leaked, and the Budget Committee has the entirety of Cadmus under review.”

Green Arrow choked on the cookie he was eating. Judging by his smile, he found that information amusing.

Superman chuckled and got up, gently placing Littlebug on the counter. “I need to head back to Metropolis. Let me know what your mother says.” 

“I will.” Superboy kept Littlebug from following Superman.

“Sorry about the meltdown earlier, I just ...” Zatanna tried to apologize to Black Canary.

“Everyone is allowed to be upset. You don’t have to apologize.” Black Canary assured her. The two got up and headed to Black Canary’s office, presumably to finish the session.

“Red Arrow, we better get going as well.” Green Arrow stood up.

“Okay.” As he stood up, Littlebug and the other doll hugged his arm. The other doll was purring. “Uh?”

“They want you to come back.” Superboy explained. “And Littlebug wants one of your arrows. Don’t give it to her.” 

“Wasn’t planning on it.” He pulled away from the dolls gently.

“And you know ... I did the whole fury at being a clone thing before. If you ever want to talk.” Superboy looked uncomfortable saying so. “I didn’t know about my other genetic donors until recently, so ... yeah, if you want to talk.”

“Maybe.” Red Arrow paused. “At least I’m still older than you.”

“You’re still younger than a doll- Chaton, Littlebug, do not ride Wolf!” 

Littlebug joined the other doll in hopping on Wolf’s back and riding off towards the rooms.

Red Arrow grinned and left Superboy to try and wrangle the two dolls.

He still wasn’t happy about being a clone, or that there was a chance that they couldn’t save the real Speedy, but it was nice to have some support.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a dc universe subscription and am currently reading the 1940’s World’s Finest comic which includes Superman, Batman and Robin, Zatara, Green Arrow and Speedy.  
> It’s fun, but every so often they remind you that World War 2 is happening by taking down spies and reminders to buy bonds, ration food and grow victory gardens ... there’s even one reminder to recycle paper so they can continue to print comics. It’s a very odd feeling.
> 
> Also been watching the Animated Batman and Superman series. I haven’t seen those since I was a kid.
> 
> Anyway, I’m now at the point where I must start giving the unused miraculous powers, so get ready for further breaks in canon!


	9. Soon there’ll be Joy and Happiness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Adrien is done, Alya meets her reporter idol, and Wonder Woman has found a certain someone to mentor.

Plagg was the Kwami of destruction and bad luck, and he really didn’t care too much about the destruction he had caused throughout the millennia he had existed. He cared very little about people as a collective, but when it came to individuals?

If they were ones he liked, he took care of them. 

Granted, his version of taking care involved encouraging them to do things like shred curtains, ignore restrictions, and to take care of number one first and foremost. Tikki tended to care about large groups and helping communities while promoting self sacrifice, but she was like that.

Unfortunately Adrien was a frustrating mix of independent and doormat, or at least had been.

It had taken Plagg years, but finally his wielder was acting like a cat in civilian life as well as a Superhero.

The difference had been a subtle change over the years of course, but right now, it was finally obvious and oh so much fun to watch, especially when Plagg could eat Camembert as the drama unfolded.

Nathalie and Gabriel Agreste had finally pushed the black cat too far, and thanks to Tikki’s chosen, Adrien could now fight back.

Of course, it was their own fault for telling him to act like an adult and then try to control him as if he was a child still.

(Oh, and threatening Littlebug. That was a really big trigger, after what happened to Pik.)

“Adrien, those aren’t the clothes I told you to wear today.”

“I’m sorry, but my contract only has me working during photo shoots. As I am now to be considered an adult, I’ll pick my own clothes, thank you for your suggestions, though!” Adrien smiled.

“Adrien-“

“I read my contract, Nathalie. You want me to act like an adult? Fine. I have read the schedule and the only thing is a business meeting that I am not allowed to attend, so you’re going to have to do a lot better than that.”

“I will have to take away the rest of those video games.”

“Go ahead. You were already planning on taking them. I have already hired a Lawyer and gotten my own bank account separate from my father’s. Human Resources helped me redirect my paycheck to it last year, something that you can’t undo because I won’t be giving you the password.” Adrien smiled. “Keep pushing and I will break my contract. I already have job offers and places to stay. I was only humoring you both before, but the fact is I am an adult now, thanks for the reminder.” He began to leave.

“Adrien, if you walk out that door-“ ah, the controlling idiot appeared. Plagg has to let go of his cheese and cover his mouth to keep from cackling. 

“Father, you have two choices. Respect my decisions or get out of my way. Agreste men are soloists, remember? Well, I’m done playing along to your tune.” Adrien stood his ground. “My lawyer has a tape that he will release to the press if he hasn’t heard from me or you try to cancel his services behind my back. And I promise you, it won’t look good for the company.” 

“That’s blackmail!”

“No, it’s security, especially since you are controlling my internet access and my communication. Now, how would that sound to the press?”

“You’re bluffing.”

“You know, I always wondered why mom disappeared. Now I’m pretty sure it was to get away from you.” And with that, Adrien was out of the house.

“You know you should have just released the tape and left through the window. He doesn’t deserve your consideration or care.” Plagg offered his thoughts.

“Almost did. Marinette thought it might be overkill, and so we’re doing restraining orders first and then moving to destruction of his reputation, since that’s what he cares about.” Adrien slowed down as he reached the bridge. “Probably should not have said that about mom, but he really should not have included murder mysteries in those books. The amount of times someone gets sick and weak before disappearing and turning up dead is kinda concerning.”

“I suppose so. Are we going to visit Sugarcube and her wielder now?” Cheesy bread or pastries sounded good right now.

“Nope. Nino.”

“Ugh. I hope you’re not going back there are you?” Previous attempts to leave had Adrien going back to that cage after a day. 

“Not for a while. Which reminds me.” He turned off his work phone, and pulled out his new phone for socializing.

Marinette had been thorough in her planning, as always. Instead of transforming to communicate, a second phone Nathalie and his father had no idea about had been a lifesaver for his chosen.

Their plan to wait out his father’s recent crackdown had been thrown out after the four day mass Akumatization. While being the face of his father’s company did give him job security, especially with Akuma battles, the past year alone gave him more than enough money for a modest apartment if necessary.

And the lawyer was a good one not attached to the company. Marinette had been introduced to him by Penny Rolling after someone tried to steal one of her designs. Apparently Adrien’s description of the his home life had raised more than a few red flags for the guy, as well as the therapist the lawyer recommended he talk to.

Nino was surprised to see him. “Dude! I thought you were busy!”

Nino had been doing well with his DJ gig, he was a regular entertainer at a few bars and clubs, and was going to university for cinematography classes. He had moved out of his parent’s place into a small apartment, and his parents occasionally had to send him rent money.

“Turns out there’s a limited amount of things you can be signed up for once you’re legally an adult. And since Father doesn’t want me actually competing in anything, most sports instructors at this level aren’t interested in having someone who has a job with an unpredictable schedule, and he won’t let me join a club. So ... do you want a roommate?” Adrien asked, making Nino almost drop a bag of snacks.

“Dude! You’re moving out?”

“I literally have been stockpiling clothes and books here for that purpose.” Adrien had been doing that for years with clothes he worried weren’t up to his father’s ‘standards’.

“I thought that was a model thing!” Nino was grinning though. Then there was a look of panic as he spotted something behind Adrien. “Err...”

“What’s Shell doing?” Adrien glanced back to see the doll trying to stealthily get into a pack of cookies.

“How did you know-“

“Remember the property Lila damaged that got her expelled? That was my doll.” And it honestly still hurt that Pik was still too scared to come home with him. Adrien understood that Pik was traumatized and needed time- in fact the doll was getting better and now coming out to meet him when he visited- and he’d read enough psychology and therapy books to know that there wasn’t a quick fix. He just wished Pik would trust him again. “Marinette and Ladybug were able to repair him, but he won’t leave Marinette’s side.” Adrien looked up, and saw Nino had a death grip on the snack bag. “Nino?”

“Rossi is so lucky she’s not allowed in France right now.” Nino took a deep breath before flopping onto the couch next to Adrien. “I tend to take Shell over to Marinette’s once a week so he can play with Minimouse, I’ve never seen Pik, though-“ Nino was interrupted by Shell bringing a crayon drawing to him. 

It was an old one, judging by the date it had been done in the early days of Lycée. On it were drawings of the other hero dolls. Except one had a green scribble over it, and next to that was Shell’s portrait. “... you didn’t make a mistake drawing, did you, Little Dude?” Nino gently traced the scribble. 

Shell shook his head ‘no’. 

“Pik tried to erase himself from the picture?” Adrien gently touched the picture. “When was this?”

“One of the first play dates after we all moved to Lycée, so not long after Rossi left.” Nino hugged Shell close. “Kids trying to remove themselves from drawings is really not good dude. You so owe Marinette for taking care of him.”

“She won’t let me pay child support.” Was the very weak joke. Adrien sighed. “Considering what it’s been like at home, it was definitely better she take care of him.” Adrien gave a sad smile. “Besides, every time I can get away, I usually go to see her and Pik... I just don’t think she’d want me to move in with her.” He dropped the attempt at a smile. He really would have liked to live with Marinette and their kids, but it was still too dangerous yet.

Shell hugged Adrien. Nino slung his arm around his best friend’s shoulders. 

“Well dude, things can start getting better.You’ve got me on your side!”

“Thanks Nino!” Adrien’s smile returned. “So, what should we do first?”

Nino had to go out for a gig, but they were able to get Adrien’s side of the bedroom set up and straightened before he had to leave. Adrien spent the rest of the night watching Shell.

It was late when Shell fell asleep, and Adrien turned on his work phone. There were several text messages.

_Don’t be childish._

_Come back now._

_You don’t want your father to be akumatized again do you?_

_Tell me the name of the lawyer, you don’t know how to do anything required for hiring one._

The rest were similar in tone. He was overreacting and being a child, and it would be his fault if something happened to his father.

Adrien stared at the text messages Nathalie had sent. He took screenshots of them, and sent the pictures to his lawyer’s email, asking them to start the restraining orders against Nathalie and his father. He then turned off the phone again.

Plagg landed on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, they’re the ones that crossed and double crossed you, kid, not even a miraculous could protect them from this first hit of bad luck coming from crossing your magic.”

“What? I don’t have magic.” Adrien looked at Plagg, who immediately had a very familiar expression of ‘oops I forgot something’ on his face.

“Kid, Princess Pigtails has magic outside of the costume, did you really think you wouldn’t?” Plagg grabbed a hunk of Camembert, he hadn’t realized he hadn’t told Adrien this bit.

“I have magic?!” Adrien managed to keep from yelling, but he was definitely about to have a minor meltdown. “And it hurts people?!”

“You’re a black cat. People only get hurt if they cross you. Why do you think I was pushing for you to not care so much about what they wanted? They’ve had this coming for a long time by breaking all those promises to you. And as nice of a sentiment it is to want to save everyone ... sometimes it’s more important to save yourself first, then you can try and save others.”

“Why didn’t they get hit with bad luck before, then?”

“You cared too much, kid, you kept your magic on such a tight leash because subconsciously you knew it would affect others.” Plagg settled on his shoulder. “Don’t you remember how fast that liar girl went down when you got mad?”

“That was my fault?”

“Nah, that was her relying too much on luck to cover her tracks. Once that luck was gone, she had nothing to keep her from getting into trouble.” Plagg grinned a little. “Besides, she was still a minor, so you did her a favor by outing her then when the laws still protected her than say, if she was a legal adult and would lose any chance of having a life.”

“But still... wait, the dolls are sensitive to magic, is that why Pik is so scared of me?! Because I lost control of my magic?!”

“Probably. Your magic is sorta the negative to Princess’s positive, that was a lot of negative to throw at someone.” Plagg decided not to mention that Adrien had also lost his grip on his magic when that superhero had been akumatized and hurt Ladybug. Hopefully that hero would be found soon, otherwise... well, Ladybug had lived, so maybe the guy was just hospitalized.

“I’m a horrible father, I didn’t-“ Adrien was horrified.

“You didn’t know. Don’t worry too much, the kid’s starting to come around. Besides, right now you need to focus on yourself before you can help the kid.” Plagg inhaled his cheese. “Trust me, it’s gonna get better.”

“I hope so Plagg.” Adrien sighed. He felt a little guilty still, and a little off balance from the idea he also had magic, but he was also just so tired of being disappointed by his Father and Nathalie.

Plagg watched as his wielder fell asleep, before curling up next to him. By this time tomorrow, his chosen would be a free cat.

Plagg would even be willing to accept cheeses that weren’t Camembert for a week until Adrien finally got a new routine going. It would be a horrible week to be sure, but his chosen was just as important as Camembert, so he could sacrifice a little.

* * *

Lois Lane looked around her hotel room. The Grand Paris hotel was nice, even the cheapest room had marble in the bathroom. It was also fairly expensive. She was lucky that most journalism awards came with cash prizes.

This hotel had been the center of multiple akuma attacks, so it was a good base of operations, unfortunately she could only afford a week.

Thankfully, the internet greatly helped with being able to track down people. Alya Cesaire was smart enough not to post her residence, but the girl had announced on her instagram that she was an intern for a local Paris news station, TVi. 

Lois headed to the station after a nap and some time freshening up. It was a nice station, modern decor and the receptionist was very helpful in tracking down Alya, who was assigned to running errands for the other reporter Lois wanted to talk to, Nadja Chamack. The two had a nice conversation as they waited for Alya to return from getting the fact checked notes.

It was pretty informative. Akumas ranged from a baby throwing a temper tantrum to adults losing their jobs. 

“A lot of them were traced back to Mayor Bourgeois’ daughter back when she was in college- ah, your middle school- but she stopped causing them after a few managed to kill her. Ladybug’s cure resets everything that happens during an akuma attack, but welll, Paris is a front runner for mental health for a reason, and unfortunately it’s because a majority of the population has died and been resurrected more than once. It takes a toll, after a while. Hawkmoth will be facing attempted murder charges for every single one of them.”

“That’s awful.” Lois was horrified. She’d come close to dying several times chasing after leads and the only thing that stopped her from dying was Superman getting her to a hospital just in time, but she’d never actually died. “And you’re all comfortable with Ladybug and her partner’s work?”

“It took a while, but most agree that Ladybug and Chat Noir are doing their best. They came so close to unmasking Hawkmoth the last time... it’s frustrating, but it’s not their fault that Hawkmoth and Mayura are willing to stoop so low. The fact Ladybug has expanded the team by adding Bunnyx and Superboy has given everyone more hope that this will be resolved soon.”

“What of the Superhero ban? Do you think Ladybug would be willing to work with other heroes once Hawkmoth is gone?”

“Willing? Oh, more than! Only a month or so before the ban, Ladybug and Chat Noir were working with other European heroes to stop a villain that was unrelated to Hawkmoth.” Nadja pulled up a picture, it was a group shot of various heroes, Ladybug and her partner were front and center. “We thought for sure she’d be able to call on them for aide, but then, well, Hawkmoth akumatized that so called hero Triumph, and the Mayor and President decided it was too dangerous for other heroes to be allowed.”

“No one’s seen or heard from him since.” Lois faintly remembered him as being self-important, but not that impressive.

“Given what lead to his akumatization, there’s actually a bounty on his head. Someone on the internet offered a reward for his capture and death.”

“How bad was it?”

“Even with her cure, Ladybug was injured for several days after. Theorists think he actually gave her a mortal injury and the cure was less effective because it went to keeping her alive along with resurrecting those killed during his rampage. She wouldn’t comment one way or another, and Chat Noir changes the subject.” Nadja sighed. “We stopped asking.”

“Fair enough. She’s appeared to have grown some?”

“We think she might still be in school. Officially, we are not allowed to look into their identities, as Hawkmoth gains a link into the minds of those he akumatizes. He knows pretty much everything his victims do. If he akumatized someone that figured out the identity of just one of the heroes ... that would be it. Doesn’t stop the internet, of course, but until Hawkmoth is gone ...”

“Understandable.” Lois grimaced slightly. She had figured a few Superhero identities as a reporter, but she had come along way from wanting to publish those sorts of stories. A lot of people could get hurt or worse if the villains knew who to target.

“Got the file! Oops.” The girl that barged into the office pulled up short as she realized Nadja was talking to someone.

“Thank you, Alya. Please put it on my desk. Our visitor would like to talk to you. You have the rest of the day off.” Nadja smiled. 

“How can I help you, uh?” Alya looked baffled.

“Lois Lane, I’m from the Daily Planet in Metropolis. I’m here to learn about Ladybug, as a lot of our readers are now curious about her.” 

Alya made a noise that sounded like she had been about to scream.

“Alya is a big fan of your work. She regularly reads your articles.” Nadja smiled.

Lois would normally be flattered by that, but right now. “You need to breathe at some point.”

Alya had to gasp for air.

When Alya had gone to her internship that morning, she hadn’t been expecting to see her role model and inspiration for wanting to be a reporter would show up wanting to talk to her.

She was equally elated and terrified.

Lois Lane, interviewer of Superheroes like Superman and Batman, was in Paris. And she wanted to interview Alya about her blog!

“I’ve been fascinated by Superheroes since I was little. I loved reading about Superman, and then I found your articles and you’re amazing!” Alya gushed. “I have a copy of the book you wrote about Krypton and Superman and” Alya remembered to breathe again, as well as remembered she really should be professional right now, “Um, what do you want to know?”

Thankfully for Alya’s nerves, Lois Lane just smiled.

“I’m flattered. And I would like to get to know a little bit more about you, you have the longest running blog about Ladybug.”

“Yeah, the first akuma was a kid in my class. I didn’t expect superheroes to show up. Um, most of the stuff I use for my blog is at my apartment, if you’d like to see it?” Alya offered, nervous.

“I’d love to.” Lois Lane said, and Alya was walking on clouds as she lead the reporter to her apartment.

In fact, she was so distracted when they left that she hadn’t noticed Nadja getting a phone call.

Or Nadja saying, “Really? A feud between the Agreste’s? When and where? I’m on it!” and rushing out of her office to find her cameraman.

And Lois had no reason to be interested in a Parisian celebrity feud, she was busy asking Alya about Stoneheart.

* * *

It was always nice to return home. Diana was almost sorry she would have to leave the next few days. Opening communication with the outside world again, and keeping it open, was difficult. The servants left breakfast on the patio, and Diana was looking forward to breakfast with her mother.

Her attention was caught by a movement across the garden, a young girl scaling a wall. 

“Ah, she’s escaped again.” 

Diana turned to see her mother behind her, looking amused. 

“Who is that?”

“Her name is Donna. She was rescued from a burning building and brought to the island by Magala and myself when we went to help you in the world of men awhile back.” Hippolyta shook her head. “I granted her request to have her as a daughter, but Donna’s reached the age of wanting to explore and experience everything. Thankfully it’s just harmless curiosity, but she’s supposed to be in reflection right now.”

“Sounds familiar.” Diana smiled at her mother. “Is her arm okay?” 

Donna was scaling the wall with one hand.

“It should be.” Her mother was concerned. 

Donna reached the top of the wall and gently placed a baby bird back in its nest. She then leaped back to the ground, and promptly froze upon seeing she had an audience.

“Come here little sister, it’s alright.” Diana waved her over. Donna hesitantly trotted over. “Want some breakfast?”

“Um, I don’t wish to intrude.” She looked between Diana and Hippolyta, but Hippolyta waved off the concern. 

“We have plenty for three, little one. How is your mother?”

“She’s good, busy with the healers making sure that there’s enough potions and elixirs ... the fumes are enough to leave my head spinning.” Donna admitted. “I’m afraid I’m a bit of a disappointment for her ... I’m very bad with potions and cooking. The spells are a little easier.”

“That’s very common at your age, potions take patience and time, but for you it feels as if staying still means you’re doing less than you should.” Hippolyta smiled. “While I know many of the recipes because I learned them with your mother, I could never get them correct. I was always better with engineering studies, several machines here, such as the guns we use to train against a potential invasion by the world of men, are reversed engineered by myself and the smiths.”

“And yet I am better at fighting than engineering, I know enough about mechanical things to get by, but I would take a long time to figure out how to correctly place gears.” Diana added. “It’s okay to not to be like your mother.”

“But she’s not my mother!” Donna retorted, and then had the realization she just vented to the Queen and Princess. “I’m sorry, I-“

“It’s okay, little sister.” Diana got up and hugged her.

“She told you about how you were found, then?”

“Yes. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but, I just ...” she struggled to put the feeling to words.

“You just want to know about the family you came from.” Diana gave her another hug. “That’s okay too. It’s natural to wonder, there’s nothing wrong with you for wanting to know.”

“And just because she’s not the one that gave birth to you doesn’t mean she’s not your mother.” Hippolyta offered. “Sometimes biological mothers aren’t the best for raising their own children.”

“That doesn’t make it better, she’s been lying to me all this time.” Donna pulled away to rub at her eyes. “I’m sorry, I just...”

“it’s okay, little sister, your understanding of the world is changing, and not in ways you wanted it to.” Diana smiled. “You know, you could ask for an apprenticeship. The worst thing that can happen is they refuse to take on an apprentice.” She straightened up and returned to her seat as Donna discretely wipes at her eyes.

“Are there rules?” Donna asked.

As her mother explained the various types of apprenticeships, Diana sat back and thought of Mount Justice and the young team of heroes that the league was mentoring. She hadn’t had a chance to really get to know them, Wonder Woman was second to Superman when requests for aid came in, and he’d been stuck off planet several times lately.

Everyone else had gotten a chance to supervise the team, and they all had been happy about doing so in their own way.Diana rather wanted an apprentice now.

It was very rare for a child to come to this island and stay. Most were returned to the world of men once they recovered from the shipwreck, plane crash or other ordeal that brought them to the island. The rest had grown up.

(Something bothered her about that thought, like she had forgotten something but Diana dismissed it.) 

Donna was probably her only candidate, and it was rough to be a child with few friends on this island. If she took Donna, the girl would not only get to learn about the world she came from, but she would have friends with the young justice league team.

She had proven to be a compassionate person, and she had the same defense lessons all Amazons were given, she just needed experience.

“You could be my apprentice.” Diana offered. Her mother and Donna looked at her in surprise. So Diana explained her reasoning. 

“Really? I would be honored!” Donna looked hopeful.

“You’ll have to talk it over with your mother.” Hippolyta looked equal parts concerned and amused. 

“I’ll go with you, I should probably formally request it of her. Help me get the right offering together?” Diana felt excited in a way she hadn’t for a long time.

“After breakfast you two.” Hippolyta stopped them from rushing off. “Breakfast first.”

Sheepishly the two did as their queen commanded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the notes in reverse order of story sections ...  
> 1) DC Amazon lore is a grab bag and I just took a few things. Not an easy decision.  
> Donna has more origin stories than Diana on that note.  
> Canonically she’s been created by Hippolyta or Magala as a companion for a growing Diana, or by an evil Amazon Denira (I can’t remember her name very well at all) as an attempt to assainate Diana.  
> She’s also been a foundling that Diana rescued and brought to Themyscria, who then left the island looking for her bio family once she got older.  
> And of course there’s been all the retcons.  
> I should also point out that Hippolyta in all versions has a very bad habit of keeping secrets from those she’s trying to protect and it usually ends up causing Diana some sort of grief.
> 
> 2) Alya would definitely be a fan of Lois Lane. don’t fight me on this, I want Alya to be mentored by Lois.  
> (Mostly because Lois can relate to and definitely help with Alya’s need for scoop trumping her common sense. Lois has had that bad habit of rushing in where angels fear to tread in multiple media)
> 
> Triumph is a dc hero that has the right mix of ego and personality issues to make it as an akuma target. His powers are manipulation of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the guy has the worst luck imaginable.
> 
> 3) If Marinette has magic outside of the costume, I want Adrien to have it as well. only it’s to cause bad luck to people that cross him by breaking promises or hurting him or Ladybug. (Slight reversal of the superstition that it’s bad luck if a black cat crosses your path)


	10. And Your Little World will be Bright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lois and Alya are going through interviews, and Batman finally gets his chance to talk to Ladybug

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: so posting while really sleepy means I missed a few things... like a sentence I didn’t finish and a spot where the dialogue went off.  
> My bad.

Lois was very impressed by Alya’s ability to research and search out the news. She was good. Still a little rough around the edges and needed to learn when to back off and switch to another tactic when the people she questioned clammed up, but that was something that took a lot of experience to pick up on.

Honestly, it was like looking at herself back when she had started out. If she could help Alya avoid some of the mistakes she’d made ... well, she might be seeing Alya take the world stage soon.

Alya had also showed her videos that hadn’t been uploaded, or had been removed from the blog. 

Some of them were very obviously wild theories, there was even a small series called Ladybugs best friend which had a girl telling very obvious tall tales.

“I know, I know, but one of my friends got to design stuff for Jagged, while another actually met the Prince of Achu. We also had a supervillain turning people evil every Tuesday. I was willing to believe everything and everyone.” Alya had explained. “There was an incident, and it turns out she was willing to help Hawkmoth if it allowed her to play the victim, since akuma victims get a lot of leeway.”

“That’s concerning.” Lois had been horrified. That girl couldn’t have been older than fifteen in those videos and had willingly helped a supervillain terrorist more than once.

“Not really, having a bad day and getting akumatized on top of it is the worst. The police now have a special van and psychologists to be there and help the victims find solutions to their problems.” Alya had missed her point, but Lois wondered if it had been an attempt to change the subject.

Today Alya was going to introduce her to Hawkmoth’s victims that she knew and kept in contact with. TVi was being generous and letting Lois borrow their intern for the remainder of her stay.

When she got to Alya’s, Alya was on the phone and talking so fast in French that Lois wasn’t quite sure what she was saying. Alya hung up and then jumped when she noticed Lois.

“Everything alright?”

“One of my friends filed a restraining order against his father yesterday, his father managed to get a court date for today to contest it. Gives me another reason to see my friends, though.” Alya gave a slight sigh. “So, ready to go?”

“Yes.” Lois smiled, following her out.

Alya kept a running commentary of the different landmarks, mostly how they related to Akuma attacks.

“And the Magician of Misfortune tried to make the Eiffel Tower disappear because no one was watching his show.” Alya was explaining as they got off the bus. “It’s kinda frustrating, because Hawkmoth takes advantage of people when they feel low or upset, and a lot of people developed poor coping mechanisms in response.”

“Which makes it easier for him to akumatize them?”

“Yeah, he also seems to go after teens the most.” Alya sighed. “Like school wasn’t hard enough- I actually had a friend give up on her crush because she didn’t want to get akumatized from feeling rejected. It sucked, because they would have been so cute together!”

Lois smiled as Alya went off on a tangent about about her friends as they walked around the Eiffel Tower, apparently the group had become extremely close knit due to the Akumas and needing to work together to survive. On the far side there was a stage that was in the process of being taken down.

“Mylene!” Alya called to a girl with blonde curls. She looked startled at being called, before catching sight of Alya and smiling. One of the other members of the crew waved her off and she quickly trotted over. “Mylene, this is Lois Lane, she’s a reporter from America looking to get information about Ladybug!”

“Oh. You mean the Lois Lane you spent three hours of our last college sleepover talking about?” Mylene asked, her accent much thicker than Alya’s and it was quickly obvious that she was slightly less fluent in English compared to Alya. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Alya turned red briefly. “I wasn’t... it was not that bad!”

“It was.” Mylene giggled. “How can I help you?”

“I understand you were part of the first Akuma attack? I’d like to hear about it from you.” Lois pulled out her recorder- old fashioned, perhaps, but she swore that her phone had poor audio on purpose when she needed it to record things.

Mylene was a good source of information. Apparently her ex-boyfriend Ivan who had become Stoneheart had been bullied for being too shy to tell her his feelings, and his attempt after his first akumatization to sing her a song was more like screeching and she’d run away, which had gotten him transformed a second time.

“He’s a great drummer, not a singer.” Mylene explained. “And he’s the sweetest guy you’ve ever met, he was always so gentle with me, even when I was scared and got akumatized myself. We broke up in Lycee because our schedules never really lined up after the first year.” Mylene looked upset about that.

Lois could sympathize. It was hard leaving a first love. “So can you tell me your first impression of Ladybug? I know it’s been a while.”

“She jumped off the Eiffel Tower to save me. I don’t remember much about what was happening then. Stoneheart had a good grip on me, I know she gave a speech, but I was still trapped and really scared. It was when I was falling and Ladybug caught me that realized she was a hero. She was really nice to me and Ivan, and encouraged me to give him a chance.” Mylene smiled. “She’s amazing.”

“Right?” Alya grinned. 

Lois was reminded of the people that Superman had saved, particularly the ones that had been in places of either certain death or the ones he talked off a ledge. Just the unwavering faith that Superman had saved them once so he could do anything, and this was directed at Ladybug. 

Alya then remembered her earlier call. “And Adrien filed a restraining order against his dad. Just FYI.”

“Really?! That’s wonderful!” Mylene clapped her hands.

“Thank you for your time.” 

“It was a pleasure!” Mylene waved them off.

Lois and Alya headed to the louvre next. 

They didn’t even make it halfway there when Alya’s phone made a shrill noise. Almost every other phone nearby made a similar noise. Parents quickly began rounding up their children.

“Akuma alert! C’mon!” Alya went charging off in the direction of the Akuma, somehow managing to read her phone as she did so. “Looks like Nadja got there first- le Revelateur, the Revealer. Reveals a person’s true self. Damn, Hawkmoth is trying to unmask them!” Alya scowled. “And there’s a sentimonster. Looks like it’s based on a robot.”

Lois was grateful she had worn shoes she could run in. “How often does Hawkmoth attack?” She pulled out her recorder again. She’d try to dictate a few observations as the attack went on.

“It varies. It’s usually once a week, or even every other week. He’s gotten frustrated, I think.” There was a tinge of vicious satisfaction in her voice. “There!” She turned on her phone’s camera and began narration in French. Lois gave a brief wave when Alya swung her camera over to her, and then had to grab the girl out of the way of some falling masonry.

Running after Superman had taught her several things, number one was keep looking up to check on buildings. The second was that it was better to move in pairs so one person could look up while the other paid attention to the ground.

(Usually it was because Jimmy was too busy taking pictures to pay attention.)

By the time they made it to the area, Chat Noir, Ladybug and Superboy were fighting the akuma and the robot.

“No Bunnyx this time.” Lois noticed. 

Alya gasped as Ladybug took a hard hit from the robot and hit the ground hard. The Revealer threw what looked like a large wet wipe at her, and Superboy got in the way, the wipe wrapping around him. Chat Noir hit the akuma from behind and rushed over to the two, grabbing them both and retreating.

Though not very far, as he ended up dropping into alley behind them. Ladybug yanked the wipe off to reveal a very tiny Superboy. As in, Superboy was now Superbaby, and very unhappy given the way his face started to scrunch up.

Ladybug immediately scooped him up into her arms and began to rock him gently. There was a whispered conference, and the two heroes picked up the pants and shoes and quickly rushed off.

Oddly enough, once the heroes were out of view, the Revealer and their robot began to track someone named Michelle.

Alya and Lois followed and managed to run into Nadja and her cameraman.

Except all Nadja was doing was gushing about her daughter while the cameraman tried to get her back on track.

It was a little more concerning when a creature that resembled a mix between a rat and a pigeon went flying past cackling in glee.

And when several Harpies flew past and Alya didn’t even react, Lois had a very bad feeling.

“This is normal?” Lois asked Alya. As crazy as the other supervillains were ... not many were like this. There was a body lying on the street, but Alya didn’t seem to notice. She stopped filming to save on battery as they followed the Akuma.

“Répandre l'amour!” A woman was tossing flowers, some with the roots and dirt attached, her hair was down and she greatly resembled a 70s hippie.

“Madame Bustier!” Alya did a double take. “She’s my old college teacher.”

“I’ll interview her after she’s back to normal.” Lois decided.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea, a lot of the staffat that college have been akumatized. There was a theory that Hawkmoth had limited range, but Startrain and Astrojet proved that wrong. So we figured he was just targeting the school because of the mayor’s daughter being really good at riling people up, because the majority of Akumas followed her to her Lycee.” Alya frowned. “The mayor of course spun it as Hawkmoth stalking and taking advantage of his daughter, but that’s a lot of ... well, no one believes it.”

“Sounds like you’re a bit biased.” Lois had been there a few times, usually when she had to write anything about Luthor, Lex Corp, and the industrial accidents that were actually him attempting to kill Superman.

“She did her best to make everyone miserable so she could be superior. Principal Damocles and the teachers let her get away with a lot.” Alya sighed. “She’s literally half the reason I still have to go to therapy.”

A harpy flew by with a man yelling in her talons, this was followed by a woman shouting at the harpy as she chased them while wielding a mallet.

“Looks like the less of yourself you hide, the more normal you are.” Alya looked at Lois. “Everyone knows that Nadja would like to be around for her daughter more, so she’s just talking about Manon. Madame Bustier tries to focus on positive things like love, and I’m guessing all the harpies are women who don’t really see themselves as such ... Though that doesn’t really explain why Monsieur Ramier is a pigeon rat.” Alya sighed. “I’m guessing the object for the Revealer is the box of wipes she’s using. Not sure though.”

“Do Akumas often make sense?” Lois ducked as a guy wearing ridiculous robes tried to grab her.

“Listen to me! Education will set you free!” He yelled in an English accent.

“We’re good thanks!” Lois felt almost sorry for the man and woman who got caught by the guy who proceeded to tell them all the wrong things about space travel.

“Not really? There’s usually some sort of logic behind their powers, but it varies.” Alya was nearly knocked off her feet by an explosion. “We’re getting close!” Alya perked up, over head, Chat Noir vaulted over the rooftops, and Alya pulled her phone back on video. “Oh!”

She was just in time. Ladybug flew past using her yo-yo, but attached to her was a baby carrier, a very happy Superbaby mimicking Superman’s outstretched arms as she swung by.

“I need more pictures of that, come on!” Alya took off again. 

Lois took off after her. They got there as Chat did something to the robot to make it disintegrate, a dark feather floating out. The Akuma was no where in sight.

Lois froze as she realized that. Years of instincts had her glance over her shoulder and then shove Alya to the side to avoid the wipe- unfortunately, she wasn’t able to avoid it herself. She struggled out of it quickly, and then did a double take.

Her clothes had changed. From the blue slacks and blouse to blue jeans and flannel shirt.

A familiar flannel shirt- one of the casual Friday’s at the daily planet had seen Clark wearing it and she’d teased him for being such a farm boy, until she’d gotten coffee spilled on her and he’d given her his flannel shirt to wear.

It was a really comfortable shirt. Somehow this copy of it even smelled like Clark.

Lois shook her head. She needed to focus! “The akuma changed my clothes. To look like Clark’s. Did I forget to give his shirt back?” Lois glanced around. Alya had taken cover behind an overturned car, and Lois quickly joined her.

“Your clothes changed? You feeling alright?” Alya asked. She was ignoring yet another dead body, the driver of the car.

“Just fine, what did I miss?” Lois looked up to see Ladybug dodging around the Akuma making her throw wipes onto cars and light poles. Superbaby was giggling and clapping. “Apparently Superboy loves being a hero no matter what the age, he’s cheering his mother on.” She noted into her recorder.

Chat Noir came out of nowhere, hitting the box that the akuma was pulling the wipes from. A Black Butterfly came out. The yo-yo caught it and a moment later a white feather and butterfly came out.

Ladybug took Superbaby out of the baby carrier- Lois was going to have to look the word for it up- gave him a kiss on the head and passed him off to Chat Noir. She waited until the two were out of sight, then tossed the baby carrier up.

It exploded into ladybugs, which swept around Lois and changed her clothes back with a warm almost tickling sensation. 

The car they were next to righted itself, and the dead body jerked, suddenly alive and looking around in surprise.

Lois jumped back in shock.

“I told you before, the Ladybug Cure undoes all damage done by an akuma, that includes deaths.” Alya explained as if that was a perfectly normal thing. She then vaulted over the car and went straight up to Ladybug who was comforting the former Akuma as an ambulance pulled up and gently bundled the former Akuma into a blanket. Alya said something that had Ladybug look surprised, before gently saying something that had Alya rocking back on her feet.

“Ladybug! I’m Lois Lane from the Daily Planet in Metropolis! Our readers would like to meet the mother of Superboy!” Lois took advantage of the lull to keep Ladybug from leaving and insert herself in the conversation.

“Ah, I see. I’m afraid I don’t have much time for an interview today... will you be in Paris tomorrow?”

“I’m here for a week.” Lois explained. “Where and when?”

“The Pont des Arts bridge, say five o’clock tomorrow?”

“Alright. See you then.” Lois agreed. Ladybug took off, and Lois turned to Alya. “What did she say that shocked you?”

“That Superboy is only a year old, Cadmus made him to grow to a teenager to use as a weapon.” Alya looked horrified. “That’s...”

“That was part of the Cadmus leaks.” Lois pointed out.

“And it didn’t seem real to me.” Alya admitted. “Want to get lunch? We can talk about the attack over lunch. There’s a cafe nearby and Rose works there, she’s the lead singer of the band Ivan is in.”

Lois very quickly regretted agreeing. Not because she wasn’t hungry, but because the cafe in question was mostly pink, and had their servers wearing pink uniforms as well.

“It’s called a maid cafe, the owner really likes Japanese Anime and Manga.” Alya explained. “Rose loves this place- Ah! Rose!” 

Rose was a thin young woman with big blue eyes and blonde hair with pink dyed tips. And she was a very happy individual. She hugged Alya and Lois in excitement and then dashed to the back bringing out coffee and a tiny sandwich tray for both of them.

Lois ended up just recording the entire conversation- Rose didn’t stop talking once she got started. Rose talked about Stoneheart and her own akumatization- though Lois had a feeling that Rose was one of those who normally looked at the best in everyone. Apparently that trait of non stop talking was well known because the manager looked amused as she came out and got Rose focused on work again.

“So. Your clothes changed?” Alya asked once Rose was busy with other customers. She pulled out her phone and was replaying the footage she had gotten.

“Yes. To something a co-worker of mine occasionally wears.” Lois frowned. “That didn’t really match with the other things I saw.”

“... you don’t have a wedding ring, right?” Alya asked.

“No- why?” Lois glances at her hands and then at Alya.

“You did when your clothes changed.” Alya showed her a still frame where there was a gold band on Lois’ left ring finger. “You must really like the guy, huh?”

“I don’t know.” Lois did like Clark, he was a good guy, they worked well together and he was a good listener. And there was the way he occasionally smiled and made her weak at the knees, but that could just be a crush on her part, one that just flared up occasionally.

Hell, half the women at the Planet had had crushes on him at one point or another, mostly because he didn’t try to hit on them and was willing to be used as a human shield when the occasional creep didn’t take no for an answer.

Marrying him on the other hand? Lois wasn’t so sure about.

“I think you do, I think you should date- hey!” Alya yelped in surprise as Rose came over and hit her gently with a menu. “Rose!”

“Sorry, but you told me to hit you the next time you tried to be a matchmaker.” Rose looked extremely apologetic, to the point of tears, for what was barely even a hit.

“Oh, yeah, I did.” Alya blushed.

“It didn’t go well?” Lois asked.

“I kinda got Rose akumatized trying to set up a friend to be in a position to work with her crush.”

“Alya meant well, and we were all supportive of Marinette getting together with Adrien, but Marinette was the class representative and had commissions she was working on, and Adrien and Nino were doing a music video for a competition. Alya tried to get Marinette into the video even though Marinette was really busy and had already said she was busy. Marinette got really upset that Alya hadn’t listened to her, and I grabbed the akuma before it got to Marinette.” Rose looked a little sad. “I was really scared that Marinette would stop talking to us if she got Akumatized.”

“Marinette doesn’t hold grudges-“

“She did with Lila- she never talked to Lila unless she had to, same with Chloe.”

Alya grimaced. “Yeah, that’s a fair point.”

“Marinette ... what was her akuma form?” Lois didn’t remember seeing her on Alya’s footage.

“She hasn’t been akumatized.” Alya started, but Rose shook her head.

“She was part of the group that almost got mass akumatized when Lila was trying to get her expelled. And...” Rose’s grip tightened on the menu, “when I intercepted the akuma, Hawkmoth said I wasn’t the Princess he was aiming for, but that Princess Fragrance would be just as useful as Princess Justice ... it was really scary, like he had plans for Marinette or something.” Rose shuddered, and Alya pulled her into a hug. “I don’t know why I remember that so clearly.”

Alya quickly calmed Rose down and the manager swooped past, placing desserts and giving Rose some tissues.

They left once Rose had calmed down and told them Ivan was most likely at the record shop where he worked.

Halfway there, and while Lois was considering heading to her hotel after this interview, Alya got a call that had her scream with joy.

“The judge upheld the restraining orders!” Alya explained with glee. “His father sent his assistant to handle it, and insulted the judge when he had her video call him.” Alya positively cackled as she gave a victory dance.

“Who’s Adrien?”

“Adrien is Adrien Agreste, he’s a model and voice actor who’s really popular in Paris-“ Alya gestured to a poster showing a handsome young man posing with a bottle of perfume and wearing all white, “His father is Gabriel Agreste, founder of Gabriel a high end fashion-design-thin, it’s not my scene, but Adrien’s been a friend from College. After the disappearance of Adrien’s mom, his father got really strict. It was over the top at times, and while we understood he was worried about Adrien going missing too, there were more times when we all got uncomfortable at how he treated Adrien, like he was more of an object than his son. But we were kids, so we weren’t able to do much.” Alya sighed. “So it’s like, really good that he was able to get a restraining order.”

Lois smiled. “I’m glad your friend was able to get away from his family. That sounds rough.”

“I’m just glad he’s finally doing something about it. I love the guy, but he kinda avoids confrontation, so he doesn’t always stand up for himself.” Alya shook her head.

“Not everyone can.” Lois stopped her. “And even if they do try, sometimes people won’t listen, it’s not their fault.” It was frustrating to deal with, but that’s what reporters were for, speaking up when others weren’t able to. Alya hung on Lois’s every word as they headed to the record store.

Lois almost wanted to bring Alya to the Daily Planet so she could keep teaching her. A week wasn’t really enough to train her out of the bad habits she had developed with her faith in Ladybug’s cure bringing people back.

* * *

Batman was by nature, a little on the cautious side of dealing with other heroes, especially relative unknown heroes with powers that didn’t make much sense. When the League had started, it was just a handful of them, and they’d just stuck to their own country unless asked. They’d had to be careful with who they added in the beginning as well, and they usually required a few test missions to decide who joined the League full time or who remained part time or just an ally they could call upon.

Ladybug and Chat Noir were children and only really came out when their villain attacked. They didn’t do much in the way of gangs, mobs, or the black market, so there was no reason for the league to step in. 

(And he had been busy with training Robin back then, and Dick had kept him busy between swinging on chandeliers and following him on cases. There had been days where Batman had seriously considered giving up being a hero due to the lack of sleep.)

Now Ladybug had made several hits on the world stage, something she had initially appeared to be against. She had been quick to claim Superboy, and was in contact with Superman and his parents.

Superman was very also obviously protective of the hero Ladybug, and was now taking an active interest in Superboy’s training. In fact, he was helping with the kids more often, which was something Batman had expected to have happened from the start given Superman’s willingness to not only work with Robin (and Jimmy Olsen), but also to let Robin use him as a springboard.

More than once Batman had seen Superman watching Robin and himself with a look of wistful longing.

So, he couldn’t understand why Superman had avoided getting near Superboy. And while that had gotten better after new year’s, Superman had only just started letting Superboy work with him; though Black Canary was right, mission logs showed that Superman had been covering for everyone, including the space missions that weren’t supposed to be done back to back.

He’d spent a few weeks having the schedule re-programmed so that people couldn’t sign up for those missions back to back.

He was also going through the training videos, and there were multiple visits by Ladybug. Often she was dropping off pastries for the kids in the morning. A few times she would talk to whoever was up.

Superboy always was happy to see her, so was Kid Flash, though that was mostly because the food Ladybug brought.

She was avoiding the areas where she would be in range of being scanned. It was impressive, but it was highlighting the security issues that the mountain had.

And then there was the whole curse on Cadmus thing. That was a concern. He didn’t like what Cadmus did, but had accepted it as a necessary evil to be tolerated. (And the fact Superman wasn’t invulnerable to magic, and if she did have a grudge against the league... he would be a good starting target.)

“Hey, she’s here.” Robin’s voice sounded over the comms. “The Arrows are on their way.”

Batman headed to the zeta platform. He was going to have a conversation with Ladybug that was long overdue.

He got there before Green Arrow and Red Arrow arrived. 

“Batman? This is a surprise.” Black Canary came out meet him.

“I’m here to talk to Ladybug.” Batman walked straight past her. Activity in the kitchen froze, save for something small that flew to Ladybug and changed her costume slightly.

He’d ask Robin later. Right now, it looked like Superboy was going to start a fight to protect Ladybug if she told him to.

Ladybug just looked down at the dolls in her arms as Chaton waved at him.

“You’re difficult to catch.”

“Considering my life right now, it’s a necessity.” Ladybug passed Chaton to Superboy. Littlebug jumped to the counter and started drawing. 

Noncommittal, she would much rather be someplace else, but she wasn’t going to be rude. Batman could work with that.

“I’m here to say I’m sorry. I was the one who sent Triumph to Paris.” Batman had been busy, and Triumph had wanted to join the league. The akuma he’d been sent to help with had caused massive earthquakes and shockwaves.

It was a test to see how well Triumph could work with others that he wasn’t trying to impress, and unfortunately, he had nearly killed Ladybug when he ended up akumatized.

Batman had been horrified when he had heard what happened. As he explained the situation to the team and Ladybug, that his (and the League’s) attempt to get to Paris was very quickly blocked by the mayor and then the president, Green Arrow and Red Arrow arrived. They stayed silent, thankfully, even as Littlebug continued her quest to steal an arrow from Red Arrow, so he ended up holding her.

Ladybug just listened, and once he finished explaining, smiled.

“I don’t blame you or the League, but I was wondering why they decided to ban all other heroes instead of just the League, if Triumph wasn’t official that makes more sense. Especially after the Kraken incident.” 

“The what?” Green Arrow asked.

“Long story, but there was an incident where a few of Europe’s heroes had to deal with a guy who got infected with some unknown slime that turned him into a giant slime kraken. Chat Noir and I helped out. I think Knightowl took over finding where the slime came from, and the guy was returned to normal after an extended stay in a hospital.” Ladybug opened her yo-yo and projected a screen showing pictures of the heroes involved. “I think you’ve met Shining Knight, but that’s Knightowl and partner Sparrow from London, he’s around my age I think, Majestia from Scotland, Victoria from Spain, Doorman from Sweden, and Uncanny Valley from Germany. I think. I’m not actually sure about her location.” She gave a sad smile. “There were plans for them to help us out, but ...” she shrugged.

Batman couldn’t quite stop the guilt that he’d had a hand in essentially crippling the support system Ladybug had obviously had before Triumph arrived.

“I’m sorry about that.” Batman filed the names away for later. Shining Knight might be willing to help the league meet them. “We do know Shining Knight, he is an ally of the League... would the rest of them be willing to help us?”

“That’s something you’d have to ask them, if you find them. Rumor has it that Knightowl, Majestia and Shining Knight had a falling out not long after the ban was announced, but Majestia was tight lipped about it.”

“You’re still in contact with them?”

“The ban keeps them from helping us, not from talking to me.” Ladybug looked amused. “And I occasionally get tips that I pass onto them and the police, especially about the black market or smuggling from France to their countries. They’re also not League members.” Ladybug closes the yo-yo and the projected picture vanished.

“Anyway, Superboy said you two had something to ask me?”

“Speedy was kidnapped a few years ago, I was cloned from him. I have to find him.” Red Arrow had tensed up. “Can you help us?”

“Ah. Technically, I can’t. However, in about a month, Superboy will be able to.”

“What?”

“I can’t leave Paris for as long as a search would take. In about a month, Superboy’s magic will be at a healthy level for him to start wielding a miraculous safely.” Ladybug explained. “I recommend you use that time to get all possible leads together, even ones that you have previously discarded.” Ladybug smiled. “And something that only Speedy and not Red Arrow has touched. That might take longer.” 

“What good would that do?”

“The Miraculous of the Dog. Special Power is ‘Hunt’.” Ladybug chuckled. “Allows one to track another, but has the drawback of showing more paths the more people have handled an object. Also, Superboy is new to wielding a miraculous, so he’ll only be able to use that special ability for five minutes at a time. You’ll want the least amount of false leads possible.”

“Can you not use it on Hawkmoth?”

“Unfortunately, no.” Ladybug scowled. “The only thing I can use is the butterfly, but if I don’t purify it quickly it multiplies and creates an army of copy akumas. And once it’s purified it no longer has the connection to Hawkmoth.”

“You’ve tried everything, huh?”

“Almost everything. Miraculous magic doesn’t quite play by the same rules as regular magic, so tracking spells aren’t useful. I am running out of smart ideas and am now just leaning towards brute force.” Ladybug looked exhausted despite her fierce tone. “That said, with your permission, I will be passing the information about Speedy to some of the others, they might be able to find something if he’s been moved out of the country.”

“Yes, please.” Green Arrow looked hopeful.

Ladybug opened her yo-yo again and typed quickly. “I’ll tell them to look for a lookalike of Red Arrow, possibly younger. I gave them a heads up about Cadmus before so they could safeguard themselves.”

“Which reminds me, what’s this about a curse?” Batman didn’t approve.

“That’s the easy word for it.” Ladybug looked up. “What’s happening to Cadmus is... well, simply put, it’s Karma from the Kwami’s I get my powers from. It will run its course, Cadmus won’t be destroyed, and no one will die, but those who were involved will have to deal with their plans backfiring for a while.”

“There have been reports of accidents.” Batman frowned.

“Ah, those are probably due to the people in question having caused someone to die. I said no deaths, but it’s hard to be proportionate to the damage they’ve done to others.” Ladybug rubbed her eyes. “Of course, the more they try to avoid responsibility for their actions, the worse it’s going to get for them. Magic isn’t always exact.”

“Zatara and Zatanna-“

“Not the same.” Zatanna spoke up. “My Magic is more controlled, but I’m not ... there’s not a lot of raw power behind it, that gets built up the more I use it. I mess up a spell, nothing will happen. Her magic is... there’s a lot of raw power, if she messes up, someone gets hurt.”

“Usually me.” Ladybug grimaced. “I can’t actually use my powers too selfishly as they’re partially luck based, anytime I do so, I get hit with bad luck right after. Usually it’s just whatever I was trying to do backfires, but sometimes it’s as simple as tripping over my own two feet as a civilian.”

“Is there going to be a risk for Superboy?” Kaldur asked. 

“No, the dog miraculous is more of a passive magic than active. But pushing past the five minute timer can still be dangerous.” Ladybug looked over at Superboy. “So don’t push your limits.”

“Okay.” He nodded, and then kept Chaton from helping Littlebug attempt to steal an arrow.

“Message sent, by the way-“ her yo-yo started to ring. “That’s odd. Mind if I take this?” Ladybug asked. 

“Go ahead.” Batman watched as Black Canary whispered softly to Green Arrow.

“Ladybug here.”

“Hey, I need a huge favor right now.” The voice that came over was strained and shaky. Not quite Alfred’s accent, but definitely London.

“What’s wrong.” Ladybug asked.

“I got shot. Need an extraction. Please?”

“Okay, you got a hospital-“

“No hospitals.” The person on the other end coughed.

“Bring him here.” Batman suggested. “We have medical supplies and a doctor on call.”

“I’ll get a gurney.” Kaldur took off. Red Tornado went to call one of the League’s standby doctors.

Ladybug didn’t wait for them to get back. A quick glance to make sure Littlebug, Chaton and Superboy were out of the way and she opened up a portal, reached through and picked up the figure in the hooded brown coat that was slumped against a damp brick wall and pulled him through, the portal closing behind.

“How did you get shot?” Ladybug carried him over to the gurney Kaldur brought. She was probably just a head shorter than the guy she was carrying.

“I didn’t think that rusty antique would actually fire. Blow up, sure, so I tried to get it away from the tosser ... next time I just won’t bother.” He grumbled. Then noticed there were people around. Though his mask and goggles obscured where exactly he was looking. “My lady, where are we?”

“You called while I was visiting my son.” Ladybug looked amused as she set him down on the gurney and looked at his side. Some of her amusement faded, but she kept her voice light. “Sparrow, meet everyone. Everyone, this is Sparrow. You can complain about me not visiting you later.”

“Oh, you bet I’m gonna complain. What was that message you sent?”

There was a brief pink glow from Ladybug’s hands. “Long story.” Ladybug gave a quick rundown about Red Arrow and Speedy. “Mind keeping a look out?”

“If you’re requesting it, no problem.” Sparrow agreed.

The doctor arrived and Sparrow would only consent to being treated if Ladybug was in the room. 

Littlebug and Chaton took advantage of everyone’s distraction and stole a couple arrows from Red Arrow, forcing almost everyone to try and get them before they hurt themselves.

Batman retreated to watch the chaos from a safe distance. They would have to look into the Europe heroes later. Maybe someone would know what happened to Triumph after he fled from Paris ... but for now, “Robin, Kid Flash, the dolls are headed towards the library.” There were children to wrangle.

* * *

Getting into France was a little more difficult than Lex Luthor planned, but it was an easy fix. A wig, a second passport he used only for rare emergencies to hide his identity, and Mercy pretending to be his girlfriend, he booked a French River Cruise that ended in Paris. 

It would take a little longer, but he could afford a vacation now and then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I borrowed some characters from the Miraculous Ladybug comics.  
> I just changed their locations and back stories. I wrote up my notes for them on my tumblr.  
> I had more notes for this chapter, but I’m kinda tired, so I’ll edit them in later.


	11. Have Faith, Little One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Superheroes have draw backs, injuries and arguments are the two big ones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My timeline is a little messed up because of the damn time zones.  
> And I got carried away.

Sparrow woke up with a start. Ladybug kept him from lunging off the bed.

“You know, as much as I understand you building up tolerance to things that drug you, it’s inconvenient when your reaction to being put under is to try and stab the doctor.” She informed him.

“I didn’t-“

“You didn’t stab anyone, but you came close. What have you been doing that would make you react like that?!” Ladybug scolded.

It was very odd to be on the receiving end of a scolding from a hero younger than himself, and who he had once helped coach. It was also odd that his first reaction was to accept the scolding as if she was his mum, before remembering that she was younger.

“Been tracking some weapons smuggling, thanks for the tip, by the way.” He’d gotten most of the ring this time.

“Sparrow, why wasn’t Knightowl with you?” Ladybug asked, frowning at him.

“... We’re not partners anymore. I moved to Birmingham, Knight stayed in London.” He gestured to what he hoped was a glass of water, he needed to fix his goggles, again, they were stuck on the red filter.

“What happened?” Ladybug asked, passing him the glass.

He just drank it through the mask. “I don’t know. Knightowl just changed, we had a few good rows, and I couldn’t stick around.” Knightowl had never been the warm, fuzzy, coddling type, but she had cared. She disapproved of him joking about, but that was out of concern that he’d get distracted and hurt.

But then suddenly nothing he did was right, and after a row where she dismissed him as ever being her partner, Sparrow decided not to put up with her nonsense. He didn’t want to talk about it any further.

“So, how’s my favorite cat doing?” Sparrow asked, hoping to change the subject.

Ladybug gave him a look that told him she knew exactly what he was doing and was just humoring him when she answered. “He’s doing great, actually. We learned each other’s identities a couple years ago and recently started dating as heroes. Unfortunately we’re not in the same social circles right now as civilians.” 

“That must be rough.”

“Mm, not really. We’re having fun plotting how to fall in love as civilians ... problem is he watches way too much anime and I refuse to accidentally on purpose run into him.”

Sparrow snickered. “I’d pay to see that.”

“I don’t doubt you would.” Ladybug looked amused. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore, but ready to leave when you are.” Sparrow remembered where they were. “Why are you here, anyway?”

“I had to return Superboy, and the two Arrows wanted to ask me for help. Lucky for you I stuck around to hear them out.”

“Fair point, but I don’t trust them.” Sparrow was allowed to be petty, they almost got Ladybug killed, and had made it so he couldn’t help his friends. “I hope that so called hero isn’t here.”

“Actually, they haven’t seen him since he attacked me.” Ladybug informed him. “I guess he went into hiding.”

“Good.” He’d look into that, maybe even let it slip to Knightowl, she’d been horrified by the news back then. She might not be willing to listen to him, though... maybe he should tell Majestia and Shining Knight instead. It would get to Knightowl eventually. “Shall we go now? Or do you need to recharge?” She’d had to do that before, trading off with Chat Noir. 

“You’re the one that got shot. I may not deal with guns, but I’m pretty sure you need to stay in bed for a while.”

“I feel fine. Just a little sore.” He’d had worse days. And it didn’t feel any worse than the time Shining Knight’s horse had kicked him.

“That’s because I used magic to help the doctor.” She informed him, unimpressed. “It will wear off eventually.”

“Best take our leave before then!” Sparrow ignored the twinge that followed him sitting up and moving his legs. “I can rest at my flat.” Standing turned out to be a horrible idea.

“Shouldn’t that be your nest?” She teased him, catching him before he hit the ground.

“You know, I almost miss the days when you were looking up to me. You didn’t tease me when I was injured back then.”

“Sorry, Hanging out with Chat Noir has made me catty.” Ladybug grinned, and Sparrow snorted. 

“I bet. Like the new costume by the way, much more professional looking.”

“Thanks.” Ladybug let him lean on her as they walked to the door. “I got tired of people calling it a onesie or pajamas.”

“Think you could help me redesign mine?” Sparrow asked. “I need a change. Maybe a new name as well.”

The people from before were still there, and the doctor looked horrified to see him up and moving.

“He wants to leave, I’m gonna take him home.” Ladybug informed Batman, Sparrow was ambushed by the doctor who wanted to check on the stitches.

“You’re changing your name?” Robin appeared, making the doctor jump.

“Thinking about it, since I’m not working with Knightowl anymore.” Sparrow was going to pass out the instant he got to his bed, or the sofa. “Definitely going to change up my costume, I need more Kevlar padding.” At least around his torso, instead of just the front. He was not looking forward to breaking in a new costume, though.

“I thought you two were partners?”

“I thought so too.” Sparrow studied the kid in front of him. He’d heard about Robin from Shining Knight, Sparrow had at least waited until he was at least a teen to go chasing crooks, but Robin had apparently started when he was ten or something.

Explained the bright colored costume at least, Batman probably didn’t want to lose the kid in a dark alley. “Things changed. It was better for me to leave. Spread my wings someplace else.” The rest of the young justice league team was hovering aroundby the couches and he sighed. “You can come over, I don’t bite.”

There was a burst of air and kid flash was next to Robin. Aqualad was followed by two girls he faintly remembered from when he was looking into the league after Ladybug gave him a heads up about Cadmus. Superboy was further back, but also looking at him in interest, Miss Martian was next to him.

“Apologies, we were looking up information about you and we found a comic book?” Aqualad asked.

“Knightowl’s predecessor made a deal with a publisher, his old cases were made into a comic book and the sales went to his estate manager who had helped him. Last issue of the original run revealed that he passed on the title to someone else without naming them. Publisher keeps rebooting the idea on occasion.” Sparrow glanced over to see Ladybug still talking to Batman, Black Canary and Green Arrow. “You ought to look up the web comic ’Diary of Ladybug’.”

“It’s just a fan comic.” Robin objected.

“But one of the story lines is real.” Sparrow grinned at their look of surprise. “There was a bit of time travel involved, and Ladybug had them include part of the story so there would be a clue for the future, just in case.”

“Really?!” Miss Martian asked.

“Really, what?” Ladybug returned as the doctor stalked off. (Sparrow felt a little bad about ignoring the doctor, but he just wanted to go home and sleep. He’d go to a doctor at home later.)

“One storyline from the ladybug webcomic is real.” Sparrow explained.

“Ah, yes.” Ladybug gave a wry smile. “Got that idea after hearing about the clue Knightowl’s predecessor left in his comics.”

Green Arrow and Batman were just behind her. Black Canary was looking at something on the counter, so Sparrow ignored her to focus on the two grown men.

“Before you go, can you give us a way to contact you?” Batman asked.

“No. I’m grateful for the medical attention, but I’ll call Ladybug or Shining Knight if I find the missing kid. I’m not interested in having you lot contacting me.” Sparrow retorted. “Unlike her, I can afford to hold a grudge against the people who almost got her killed!” Sparrow had been unable to help- None of them had been able to, due to the previous akuma, travel had been halted, and Doorman had been trapped fighting a villain who had taken hostages, Majestia had tried to fly to Ladybug’s aide, but had been turned away by the French military.

It had been horrible, being unable to get there and then the news had just stopped broadcasting. He had spent a couple hours thinking both of them had died- and they were younger than him. (Knightowl had actually hugged him during the wait for an update.)

Then it had gotten worse when France refused to let any foreign superheroes into the country. Meaning he couldn’t actually see them, just get occasional updates from the two as Ladybug recovered.

Sparrow wouldn’t be forgiving the Justice League in a hurry.

Ladybug didn’t see the look Batman gave her, instead pulling Sparrow to his feet. “Alright, let’s go before you pass out.” Ladybug opened a portal and pulled him through.

“This isn’t Birmingham.” Sparrow realized after the portal closed. The skyline was wrong.

“Nope. We’re in Stockholm meeting Doorman. I can only do two portals at a time, and I don’t recharge around Batman.” Ladybug explained. 

“Oh.” Sparrow blinked. “So, you don’t trust them either?”

“I’m trying to work with them so they won’t argue about Superboy helping me, or me visiting Superboy. Superman is in my corner, but just because I accepted their apology doesn’t mean I am going to trust them.” Ladybug pointed out. “And I’m not going to turn my back on a kid in trouble.”

“Didn’t mean time imply I would, I just don’t want them trying to track me.” Sparrow sighed. “Didn’t mean to cause you any trouble.”

“You didn’t.” Ladybug smiled at him. “So, do you plan to keep the coat or-?”

“Definitely keeping the coat.” Sparrow swayed and Ladybug made sure he was sitting.

There was a sound of a door opening and Doorman appeared.

“Ladybug!” Doorman hugged her. “How is Sparrow?”

“I’m fine.” Sparrow was relieved when Doorman didn’t try to hug him. 

“He got shot. Got him patched up, but I need your help getting us back to our homes.” Ladybug explained. “I have to be awake in a couple hours.”

“Sorry!” Sparrow grimaced. He hadn’t thought about the time difference. “You should have left-“

“You asked me to stay. And it was a good thing I did since you tried to stab the doctor.” Ladybug reminded him. “It’s fine, I was known for my poorly managed sleep schedule long before I became a hero.”

“Sparrow tried to stab a doctor, why?” Doorman knelt down to check on Sparrow.

“Long story,” Sparrow grimaced. “Get Ladybug home first.”

“Eiffel tower.” Ladybug suggested, and Doorman obliged. “See you guys soon, Bug out!” And then she was gone.

“I’m glad to see her doing well, she is quite grown up now!” Doorman picked Sparrow up.

“Yeah ... a bit too grown up.” Sparrow grumbled. “I get a shot at Hawkmoth, I’m taking it. Oh, Justice League doesn’t know what happened to the guy that nearly killed her, he must’ve gone into hiding.”

“Ah, I will keep an eye out then.” Doorman got him to one of his bolt holes and onto a couch that had seen better days. “Do you need any other help?”

“Nah, I’ll call in sick to work, go to a doctor in a bit.” He closed his eyes. “Thanks.”

“Always willing to help.” Doorman left, and Sparrow began to struggle out of his costume.

He’d start looking for Speedy once he felt better.

* * *

Marinette crashed into her bed, Kaalki and Tikki going for snacks. It had been a long day between the akuma attack and Sparrow getting hurt.

Minimouse and Pik immediately curled up next to her.

Tikki watched as Marinette fell asleep.

“She’s going to be taking the world stage soon.” Kaalki noted. “Though if things had been different, she might have taken it sooner.”

“I’m a little worried.” Tikki admitted. It was rare for a Ladybug to live to old age, especially the longer they held onto the miraculous, and she usually lost them to heroic sacrifices or worse. When Master Fu had activated them, it was just to reclaim the butterfly miraculous. More had been added onto the mission since and Tikki... Tikki didn’t want to lose Marinette like she had lost the others.

“Our Guardian is doing well, Tikki, her magic is getting stronger and she’s getting better at controlling it. And Adrien is learning about his magic now, so they’ll be more in balance. There’s no reason to worry.” Kaalki swallowed the sugar cube whole. 

If Kaalki couldn’t have Max again, she would enjoy having any of the Kent’s. They gave her sugar cubes without asking, and apples. Or that Robin kid, he was similar to Max. She had been sneaking snacks to recharge after Marinette had accidentally sent herself and Superboy to the Kent farm, so she hadn’t gotten a clear look at anyone, and hopefully no one had noticed her zipping back to Ladybug to do a quick transformation.

“Except the whole, mysterious organizations that will be targeting her.” Tikki sighed. 

“She has allies. Trustworthy allies.” Kaalki reminded her. “Allies that will fight for her.”

“I know! I just ... I guess it’s because the last time I got a Ladybug to this point, she and Plagg’s chosen turned on each other.”

“Darling, those two weren’t nearly as compatible as they thought they were. They just assumed the other would drop their responsibilities to help them, instead of making clear boundaries.”

“And Marinette made sure to set boundaries... though that was more to stop the possibility of Chat Blanc than anything.” Tikki sighed. “You’re right, Marinette is doing great.”

“Of course I’m right!” Kaalki shook her mane, and then joined Marinette on the bed. 

Tikki finished another cookie. Marinette was better at using her magic and the miraculous responsibly, but Adrien was just starting to learn the limits of his magic.

In general, the Ladybug and Black Cat balanced each other in various ways. Marinette’s magic was active, while Adrien’s was more passive. Slightly more of the black cats became corrupted, using their power to cause harm at the slightest provocation, but Tikki had had her share of corrupted Ladybugs.

The next few months would be critical, if Adrien was going to turn, it would happen sooner than later. Though if he got away from his father, the odds of that would drop drastically. 

The hearing had been yesterday! Tikki quickly checked Marinette’s phone. A few missed texts that confirmed that Adrien was free of his father. Tikki let out a sigh of relief and vowed to tell Marinette to check her phone in the morning.

Tikki had faith that Adrien wouldn’t turn, but she’d also had had faith that Herakles wouldn’t turn on Hippolyta... and that hadn’t ended well.

Still, Marinette was the First Ladybug in a long time that was tapping into all aspects of her power, most either mastered creation or good luck, not both. And that was a good sign.

The curse against Cadmus pulsed, and Tikki closed her eyes, seeking the reason, and when she found it, she was furious. Oh, the weapons lab had perverted creation, making sentient life forms into living weapons. As if cloning others wasn’t enough! And the amount of people killed and sacrificed for their goals-! 

Marinette and Adrien had insisted on no deaths, as was their right, and it was admirable for them, but Tikki was this close to asking Plagg to just strengthen his part.

Tikki curled up on Marinette’s back- dangerous if Marinette woke up in a rush, but it meant she could listen to her chosen’s heartbeat and forget the feelings Tikki had sensed from the curse.

(Morning would come too soon, and Tikki would partially regret her choice as Marinette rolled over and slightly squished her, but it was worth it.)

* * *

“Found it!!” Robin called out in excitement.The others gathered around, Green Arrow had left with the Doctor, but Red Arrow had remained behind to speak with Black Canary. 

Robin had started looking for the comic in question as soon as he heard it. “So most of this is a fan comic, the writer and artist are making themselves into heroes that aid Ladybug and her partner, except for this one, titled ‘Follow the Rabbit’.” Robin pulled up the comic panels. “It starts with Ladybug delivering a letter from a girl to her crush, and then de transforming in a nearby alley,” all the panel showed was a flash of light and an exclamation mark, “before retransforming and meeting up with the heroes and Chat Noir acting odd- and then Bunnyx this hero from the future showing up and grabbing Ladybug, taking her to an alternative timeline that’s making the rest of the timelines unstable. Bunnyx has to hold the time portal or something so it’s just Ladybug against the akumatized form of Chat Noir, Chat Blanc... it’s pretty brutal, cause the guy is pretty much insane, there’s like, statues of people including herself, the creators of the comic, and Hawkmoth that disintegrate during their fight and Chat Blanc presumably uses her real name at some point because she reacts to the blank speech bubble in shock.” Robin grimaced. “She then asks how things got this bad, and it’s kinda implied that Hawkmoth went after Chat Noir on purpose in order to get someone that could beat Ladybug, only for Chat Blanc to try and destroy himself and accidentally destroy everything other than himself. Including the moon.” The moon looked like it was falling apart in one panel. “Anyway, Ladybug manages to talk Chat Blanc down and saves him, but Bunnyx grabs her before we see if her cure is successful, and we get a repeat of the panel of her going into the alley only for Bunnyx to grab her... the ending has Ladybug hugging her friends.” Robin shrugged. The comic was pretty good, but this issue was slightly lesser rated than the others, most of the comments being that the time travel plot made no sense.

“I thought Bunnyx was a recent hero?” Batman asked.

“She officially got the miraculous now, but mom said she appeared in the past a few times to help out.” Superboy explained. “I can ask her for more clarification later.” He glanced at Kaldur, who nodded.

“So, we aren’t going to comment on how cute Superboy was as a baby? Cause your baby pictures are trending.” Kid Flashpulled up the various pictures- most were blurry, and included pictures of him crying the instant his mother gave him to Chat Noir to dash into a nearby shop. There was a video clip of a frantic Chat Noir singing to calm him down, as well as pictures of him cheering and clapping as his mother jumped over debris. 

“Very cute.” Artemis agreed. “What was the akuma’s ability, anyway, turn people into babies?”

“No, Revealing truth. Supposed to reveal Mom’s identity, I got in the way.”

“Good thing you took the hit, then.”

“Yeah...” Superboy looked over the pictures. “I’m going to go work on my homework.” He left, scooping up Chaton on the way.

“But we didn’t have any?” M’gann was stopped from following him by Kaldur.

“Give him some space, he’s got a lot on his mind.”

“I could help with that.”

“M’gann.” Black Canary frowned. “You agreed with your uncle not to use your telepathy save for communication for safety reasons.”

“Uh ...” M’gann froze. “Um, It’s just once in a while ...”

“I’m sure she didn’t mean any harm.” Kaldur offered. “And she does help with the dolls.”

“Regardless, I’m calling J’onn, and the three of us are talking about this.” Black Canary glanced at Batman for back up, and he nodded.

“The rules are there for a reason and you know better, especially after what happened with the Failsafe.” Batman reminded M’gann, who just glanced down. Kaldur wrapped an arm around her. “That said, we do have a mission. Miss Martian and Superboy will be sitting this one out, Red Arrow, you’re welcome to join the team for this mission.”

“Uh, sure, what is it?” Red Arrow asked, before glancing up as something hit his head. “No.” Red Arrow caught Littlebug as she was repelling down from a vent in yet another attempt to steal an arrow. “Your little brother could use a drawing or something. Not another chase around the mountain.” 

Littlebug pouted as she was passed to Black Canary. 

“The leaks revealed an abandoned Cadmus facility.” Batman explained the mission.

* * *

Completely ignoring everyone else save Chaton’s purrs, Conner picked up his cell phone and hit one of the most recent numbers. “Hey, uh, M-Martha ... um I need some help.”

“Of course, Conner, how can I help?”

“Remember how Mom said I was turned into a little kid?”

“Yes, some of the pictures just crossed my Facebook wall or is it feed? Either way, I just saw them.”

“Yeah ... I just... is it bad that a part of me wants to go back to being like that?”

“Ah.” There was a sound of rustling on her end. “You know, there are some days I miss being a little girl and being carried by my father. It’s not a bad thing, to wish for something you miss when being little... but in your case ... it’s something that you didn’t have because it was taken from you, and you didn’t know that it was missing.” Martha sighed. There was a soft voice that sounded like Honeybee and a brief rustling that was most likely Martha picking her up. “You’re allowed to be upset about it.”

“Do you think ... would mom ...” Conner couldn’t voice the question.

“Would she have wanted a chance to raise you from that age?” Martha asked. “From the pictures I’m seeing, most likely. You’ll have to ask her to know for sure.”

“Right ... I’m scared to ask.” 

“She’d probably say yes, Conner.”

“That’s kinda what I’m scared of. I haven’t... had a family... just a girlfriend, Wolf, Sphere and the Team.”

“Well, the team is a different type of family than what you’re thinking of. A person can have more than one type of family. Love isn’t something that’s restrictive to one set of rules.” Martha offered.

“Thanks, for listening.”

“Thank you for calling. I’m here if you need me.”

Conner hung up and flopped back onto his bed. Chaton promptly hopped on top of him for a hug.

‘Mama loves you no matter what.’ Chaton offered. Conner held him a little closer. ‘I love you taller or littler than me!’

“Thanks ... I’m starting to believe that.”

* * *

Chat Noir flipped over a roof, landing next to Ladybug. She had half an hour before she was going to meet with that Daily Planet reporter Alya worshipped and she had been out of it most of this morning, as her texts were misspelled and over used the scissors emoji. And he was worried about Sparrow, the guy had taken them underwing when the older heroes had treated them as too young, as well as had helped expand Chat’s pun reserves.

“Is Sparrow okay?” Chat asked.

“Patched up and grumpy, he and Knightowl have split.” 

“What, why?” Chat was shocked.

“According to him, she changed ... though the tone of her messages hasn’t when I send her the tips I get.” Ladybug frowned. “I’m a little worried about her.” 

“Something we should do?”

“No, I don’t think so, sounds like Majestia is the go between right now. Did you see that message about Speedy?”

“Yes, and I feel like I should remind you we need to take Hawkmoth down before we can do more for the league.” Chat said.

“Honestly, I don’t wanna work for them- work with them as allies, sure, but I don’t want to join them.” Ladybug admitted. “But given everything we’ve learned about Cadmus... I don’t want to leave anyone trapped with those people either.”

“I don’t want to leave anyone trapped either, just ... you’ve been sneaking over there a lot, you can’t really afford to use more than two miraculous at a time.” Chat pointed out.

“I won’t be helping search. Superboy will have to learn how to use a miraculous soon, and the dog’s a good way to start.” Ladybug grinned. “On that subject, since the app is working, would you like to meet the rest of Superboy’s family? They want to meet you.”

“Really?” Chat couldn’t hide the raw hope in his voice. His Lady had been busy, and so had he, but he was a little jealous that she was able to get out of Paris on occasion.

Ladybug hugged him. “I know I’ve been caught up trying to do everything, but I wanted to get most of the tedious work out of the way so that going forward will be easier on all of us.”

“That explains why you were sneaking treats over there, no one can resist your family’s food!” Chat realized. “Sneaky Bug!” He accused to her laughter.

“That, and Superboy was complaining that every time Kid Flash showed up they had to go shopping for groceries the next day.” Ladybug smiled. “More if they do a mission. Speaking of,” she pulled a bag of pastries out, and Chat beamed. 

He was being careful what he ate, since he no longer had a private chef, so he hadn’t done his first impulse, which was buy one of each pastry from Tom & Sabine’s. (His second impulse had been red with black polka dotted sheets, and Nino had shrugged after a moment before adding a ladybug pillow/stuffed animal thing. Nino had a turtle one.)

“Marry me.” He said through a mouthful of pain au chocolat.

Ladybug chuckled. “Not if you ask like that, silly kitty.” She kissed his cheek. “Want to come with me to the interview?”

“You know I’d follow you anywhere.” That earned him a tap on his bell. “You’re worried?”

“Apparently she’s figured out the Flash and Batman’s identities.” Ladybug sighed. “The only reason she hasn’t figured out Superman’s, despite dating him, is because he started taking League missions, but apparently before that she’s come close.”

“And we’re talking to her?”

“Yes, because the better PR we’ve got, the better it will be going forward. Ready?” Ladybug stood up, and Chat scarfed the last of the pastries, licking his claws.

“Ready when you are, milady!” 

Ladybug landed in front of Lois Lane, and Chat, unable to help himself, landed in behind the reporter.

“Charmed to meet you.” Chat grinned as the reporter had to twist to get them both in view. Ladybug could be the professional one, he’d just try to throw Lois Lane off her game a bit. It would be fun.

Lois, for her part, was a little amused. Chat Noir wasn’t anything like Catwoman, where one spent the entire time waiting for her to lash out, he just shamelessly wanted attention. Ladybug was as professional as her previous interviews hinted at, which let the usual questions go pretty smoothly, before Lois got to some of the harder ones.

“You’re pretty quick to claim Superboy, why?”

“Because I had to put having a family on hold thanks to Hawkmoth. I had plans that didn’t include dealing with supervillains emotionally manipulating innocent people.” Ladybug shook her head. “I wasn’t going to turn him away when he asked.”

“And the concerns about you using Superboy as a soldier?”

There was a slight growl from Chat Noir, and what she thought was just a belt suddenly moved as if it was a tail, lashing from side to side. Ladybug gently stroked his jaw to calm him before answering.

“I discussed this with Superboy. Because of my responsibilities here, I just can’t go see him too often. The only way I would be able to see him is if he was an exception to the ban. The only way to get my government to agree is to say that he would be a reserve fighter. Superman and the Justice league have been very helpful in that regard.” Ladybug explained. “Should he wish to not help, I won’t push.”

“And you’re okay with your partner having a child?” Lois asked Chat Noir.

“Yes.” Chat Noir looked amused by her asking.

“Why?”

“I support Milady’s decisions and he’s a good kid. What I’ve got issues with, is a foreign government deciding to steal her DNA to mess with. Not Superboy’s fault, but I really got to question why you’re asking us about child soldiers when that’s what your government was making, rapid aging to maturity included.” What she thought were decorative ear clips twitched and moved on their own. 

“Fair point. I have a colleague chasing down leads on that end.” Lois admitted. The rest of the interview was fairly straight forward. Chat Noir occasionally interjecting his own answers if she didn’t ask him something, but he was mostly content with Ladybug leading, save for the necessary questions about Triumph and the fallout.

When the heroes left, Alya rejoined her, still looking a little grumpy she hadn’t been able to videotape it for her blog.

“So, who’s the next on your list?” Lois asked.

“Marinette, and then Adrien and my ex, Nino.” Alya grimaced. “Nino was the Bubbler, and the two of us got akumatized together as Oblivio.”

“Bad break up?”

“Yeah, I kinda expected him to always support me and got mad when he called me out for ignoring... everything.” Alya crossed her arms. “It was a lot of fights, I haven’t talked to him since, so Marinette might end up introducing you to them if he doesn’t want me there.”

Marinette lived above her parents bakery and was in the middle of cutting out fabric when they arrived, so Alya had to back track quickly to avoid accidentally stepping on the fabric.

“Girl, you need a sign warning people when you’re cutting fabric!” Alya complained when Marinette joined them in the living area. Madame Cheng brought up a tray of pastries before leaving.

“I tried that. You broke it.” Marinette giggled. “Hello! I’m Marinette! You must be Lois Lane, I’ve heard a lot about you!”

“Nice to meet you too.” Lois smiled. “I understand you’ve been able to avoid being akumatized.”

“Barely. The one time I did, something must’ve happened to Hawkmoth because I only blacked out for a moment.” Marinette shrugged. “I usually just get turned into a minion if the akuma brainwashes people, and there was that one time that a certain akuma erased my memories.” She gave Alya a teasing look. “Can’t remember who that was.”

“You are never going to let me live that down.” Alya groaned.

“Considering how many times I have been embarrassed and not gotten akumatized over it?” Marinette smiled.

“Fair point.” Alya admitted.

“So what is your opinion on Ladybug?”

“I don’t really have an opinion on Ladybug? I’m grateful for her saving my friends and I of course, but, uh ... I kinda get saved by Chat Noir more.” Marinette blushed, mumbling the last part quickly.

“Wait, you’re still-“ 

Lois shot Alya a look and she sheepishly backed down. This was a bad habit of Alya’s, asking for personal information unrelated to the story.

Marinette looked equal parts surprised and impressed that Alya backed off, Marinette’s body language also relaxed a bit.

“What do remember about the Stoneheart incident?”

“Being completely terrified. I was kinda responsible for Ivan getting akumatized the second time, I suggested he should do something to confess his feelings to Mylene. I didn’t expect his idea of a song was to scream a rock ballad at her.” Marinette admitted. “I tried to go after Alya, but ended up hiding instead when one of stone guys nearly trampled me.”

“Fair enough. So you said you were saved by Chat Noir more than Ladybug, what do you mean?”

“Evillustrator, Gamer, a few times with Monsieur Pigeon and recently with Monsieur Rat, when my dad got akumatized ... I’m probably missing a few.” Marinette shrugged. “He usually gets me out of the way of being trampled, or killed.”

Lois nodded. “Thank you.”She turned off her recorder. “Alya said you might have to introduce me to Nino Lahiffe?”

“No!” Marinette said cheerfully. “I am not doing Alya’s job for her, I am just accompanying you to deliver an order.”

“Marinette!” Alya gasped.

“It’s been months Alya, and the rest of us are sick of the dancing around you.” Marinette looked amused. “Nino isn’t holding a grudge so why are you avoiding him?”

“I’m not avoiding him.”

“Okay, then call him and let him know we’re headed to his apartment. I’ll grab my jacket!” Marinette cheerfully left the room, leaving Alya staring at her phone. Lois had to smother a smile. Not the most professional behavior, but Marinette obviously was not giving Alya room to wiggle out of her responsibilities.

“Well?” Lois asked when Alya continued to stare at her phone as if it would eat her.

“You know the school’s nearby, we could go talk to the faculty, and ... you’re not letting me out of this are you?”

“You call your ex, I’ll talk to mine and send you a copy of the interview for your blog as proof.” Lois negotiated. 

“Your ex- Superman?!” Alya looked like she was stunned by that. “On my blog ...” it took a moment for her to process, before she hit call on her phone.

Of course the moment she did and it started ringing, there was a look of utter panic on her face. Lois placed a hand on her shoulder and Alya took a deep breath.

“Hey, uh, this is Alya ... I have two reasons to call you, one professional and one personal.” Alya glanced at her messenger bag.

Lois couldn’t hear what Nino said, but Alya was obviously caught by surprise.

“Ah, yeah, be right over! Marinette’s got a delivery and uh, yeah, see you soon.” Alya hung up and looked at Lois in confusion. “He just said to come over and tell him in person. Is that a good thing?”

“What was his tone?”

“He sounded like he always does.” Alya got up. “Marinette! Nino said to just come over! Is that good or bad?”

Marinette came down with her jacket and a matching backpack and looked amused. “It’s Nino, he doesn’t hold a grudge unless you’re Monsieur Agreste.”

Lois followed them down where Marinette grabbed a bag from her mother.

It wasn’t more than a twenty minute walk to Nino’s apartment. Marinette was an aspiring designer and happily explained why Paris local news was making a big deal over the split between a model and his father.

“Gabriel is pretty popular line, but lately it’s been... declining. Adrien’s mother disappeared a year before Hawkmoth arrived, and Monsieur Agreste hasn’t been the same since. He made his son the face of the company and then just holed himself up in his mansion. Adrien getting restraining orders against him is making people wonder if maybe he had something to do with his wife’s disappearance.” Marinette explained. “And Audrey Bourgeois just added to the fire by saying that she remembered Madame Agreste was mysteriously ill prior to her disappearance.” Marinette looked annoyed at that.

“So now people are questioning if he had something to do with his wife’s disappearance.”

“Pretty much.” Marinette tripped on the sidewalk with a yelp of “Pastries!”. Alya rescued the bag of pastries and Lois caught Marinette before she hit the ground.

Marinette was a little heavier than Lois was expecting, and it took a moment of stumbling for them to recover.

“Are you alright?” Lois asked once they weren’t about to fall over.

“Yes!” Marinette squeaked. “Thanks!”

“Nice catch, Marinette tends to drag everyone down with her, unless it’s Kim or Ivan.” Alya looked impressed. “How do you did you manage to catch her?”

“A lot of practice.” Lois Proceeded to tell them about Jimmy, who had started working with the paper when he was sixteen. Jimmy had started out as mostly bones, but over the years he’d gained more muscle as he ran and dodged supervillains, as well as joining a gym; However he wasn’t a body builder and retained a rather slim build. Most people ended up surprised by how much muscle actually weighed when they tried to keep him from falling and got dragged down in the process. Marinette was much the same.

Probably from helping with those giant bags of flour that her father had been lifting when they left. 

“So what’s Jimmy’s job now?”

“He’s no longer an intern and is one of our photographers, but he’s applied for the Website management team as well as Layout. He’s currently finishing up his masters degree.” Lois explained. “Out of curiosity, are you two in school or-“

“I’m mostly doing online courses. Marinette graduated with a business degree from Lycée so she’s helping her parents run their bakery between commissions.”

Lois ended up comparing and contrasting the French education system with the American one with the two of them until they reached Nino’s apartment.

Then Marinette pulled her back down the hall so Alya was the only one in front of the door.

Alya glared at Marinette before stiffening up when the door opened and the guy Lois was ninety percent sure was Nino was standing there.

Lois wasn’t sure exactly what Alya said, but to her surprise, Alya pulled a plush doll out of her bag and handed it to him. Lois looked at Marinette for an answer.

“Inside joke that’s taken a life of it’s own.” Marinette explained. “Short version, I make dolls as a hobby and gave some to my friends and when Nino and Alya were dating they got a matched set. When they split they each took one, so it kinda felt like a divorce, with each of them taking a kid.” Marinette blushed a bit in embarrassment. “It’s a bit of a coping thing for us.”

“Ah, ok.” Lois shrugged it off. With a villain running around looking to manipulate emotions, carrying a doll around was as good as a solution as any. (Definitely preferable to the rubber band snapping the guy on the bus to Alya’s place did.) Nino didn’t seem bothered, hugging the doll, saying something that made Alya relax, before waving at Lois and Marinette over.

Nino, it turned out, was a very calm person who was taking university classes and doing DJ gigs to pay for it.

Adrien was more reserved, up until Lois mentioned Ladybug.

That proved to be a mistake.

Adrien was a Ladybug fanboy and once he started gushing about Ladybug, Alya got pulled in and Lois had to try and reign them both in.

Marinette put her backpack and Nino put the plush doll into the bedroom, shutting the door when they came out and coming to Lois’s rescue, Marinette reigning in Alya by making her bite into a pastry and Nino by doing the same to Adrien.

“Sorry about that. These two are President and Vice- President of the Ladybug fan club.” Nino took a seat on the floor. “Definitely am grateful for Ladybug being around, have you seen how I looked as the Bubbler?”

Lois had not, so Nino showed her a picture.

“Oh, that’s...” Lois did not know how to describe it.

“Horrible, I know. I look like a rejected kid’s toy!” Nino rolled his eyes. “At least Oblivio looked cool, but Ladybug did me a favor when she rescued me from being Bubbler.”

That was interesting way of looking at it. “Why were you akumatized in the first place?”

“Tried to get Old man Agreste to let me throw Adrien a birthday party. Dude was a total drag and he insulted me, so I was gonna blow bubbles to calm down.” Nino explained. “Akuma got me before I could. Bad luck.”

“Have you been akumatized, Adrien?” Lois asked.

“I haven’t been akumatized ... everyone else around me has, including a couple ex-girlfriends, but I came pretty close once.” 

“What? When was this?” Alya looked shocked.

“When Rossi tried to frame Chloe.” Nino answered. “Ladybug snagged the butterfly before it landed.”

“You saw that?” Adrien sounded surprised, though his expression pretty quickly changed to one of realization.

“Yes. Ladybug disappeared pretty quickly after that, normally she would have stayed but she probably had somewhere to be.” Nino shrugged. “And I was able to catch up to Adrien get him to calm down enough so he was coherent when we got to the Principal.”

Lois nodded. Near akumatization was interesting, but not what her readers would be interested in. “Anyone you think I should interview?”

“Other than Chloe and Sabrina, probably the teachers.” Adrien offered.

“I’m taking her to the school tomorrow.” Alya informed them.

“Thank you all for your time today. I’m going to head back to the hotel. See you tomorrow Alya.” Lois excused herself, the group waved her off, the last thing she heard was Alya pouncing on Adrien and demanding details of his restraining order.

* * *

Clark leaned back in his chair. He’d missed being at the Planet ... he’d missed being himself for a while. 

Not that the Planet was necessarily the most peaceful place, especially when Perry was having another argument with the Publisher.

Even without super hearing, it was distracting, especially since his last piece about the recent Cadmus leaks had just went to copy and he was stuck trying not to think about how Ladybug was doing against Lois.

His desk phone rang, startling him, and he quickly made a show of nearly falling over before catching himself and answering it. “Daily Planet, Clark Kent speaking.”

“Mr. Kent, you probably don’t remember me, I’m Lex Luthor’s secretary...”

“Miss Eve Teschmacher, I remember you.” No one was paying any attention to him.

“Oh good! Listen quickly, the board had a meeting today, and a woman walked in claiming she was Lex’s sister and the rightful owner of half the company, I can’t get a hold of Lex, but if he doesn’t do something he’s going to come back to a mess!”

“How can I get ahold of him if you can’t?”

“Lex always reads the Planet, even out of the country! Please!”

“What’s her name? I’ll do what I can, but I can’t guarantee anything.” Odds were that Perry would allow him to publish a story like it to spite the Publisher, but there was no guarantee of that.

“I know, thank you, she called herself Lena Luthor, just turned twenty one. I’ll see you after work dear!” She hung up just as he heard someone call her name on the other side, which explained the non sequiter at the end.

Looking up the name revealed that she had graduated early and the head of her class at Oxford ... and a quick search through Luthor’s file revealed he had taken custody of his sister after the deaths of their parents.

That was it. There was nothing about her after that. The anniversary of the parents death was coming up ... but they weren’t the sort of people that one would bother commemorating, as Lex taking over the company had been considered a good thing that vastly improved worker conditions.

This was raising a lot more questions than there were answers.

Clark headed to the elevator, he’d have to see what public records existed for her. The Metropolis Library may have more clues, or at least, more articles from other papers back from before Lex had taken over the company. If he absolutely had to, he could ask Ollie or Bruce ... they admitted to running in some of the same circles as Lex growing up, maybe they would remember her.

He didn’t make it to the library. There was a silver limousine out front, one of the high end rental ones, based on the logo on the driver’s uniform. A quick scan of it showed Lex’s secretary and an unknown young woman, presumably the mysterious Lena, sitting in it. No hired guns nearby, but maybe that meant Lena was just more willing to get her hands dirty ... though she was only carrying perfume, and no weapons.

It could be that she was the white sheep of her family, and Miss Teschmacher was just panicking because of Lex’s temper. 

Clark was starting to walk past the limo when the driver opened the door and Ms. Teschmacher called him over.

So much for a boring weekend. The limo started driving once he was in.

“Mr. Clark Kent, I’m Lena Luthor. I believe you know my brother’s secretary, Eve.” Lena smiled politely, she was wearing a green blouse and black skirt, the black blazer that went with it was next to her on the seat. “Care to explain why you’re trying to get in contact with my brother?”

“Seventeen.” Clark’s short answer surprised both women. “That’s the amount of people who have been fired after getting in trouble with Lex for not notifying him about a change. The board is safe and not likely to bother Lex on vacation, probably hoping for an easier target, but Miss Teschmacher is in danger of losing her job should Lex not be notified, though whether or not Lex would be able to do anything afterwards is up for debate.”

Lena glanced at Ms Teschmacher in brief consideration. “I’m not an easy target, they will be disappointed.”

“I’m sure. You’re a virtual unknown from what I can tell.” The board might have more information on the family, but given how little Lena had stood out, they had nothing current.

“That doesn’t explain why she would call you.” Lena pointed out.

“I owe her a favor, no questions asked. It’s that simple.” Clark explained. The limo pulled over.

“Well, see you tomorrow Ms. Teschmacher.” Lena gestured to an apartment building. The secretary gave a quick glance at Clark, before quickly leaving. “Where can we take you, Mr. Kent?” 

“The Metropolis Public Library. Most of the city’s public records are there.” Clark watched her relay the information to the driver, before she turned back to him.

“I don’t want my brother to try and lock me out of my rightful half of the company. Unlike Ms. Teschmacher, I can pay you not to contact my brother, just name your price.”

“Sorry, not interested in your money.” Clark mentally groaned when Lena looked him over.

“Well, I’m sure I can interest you in something else?” She slid a little closer.

“You really couldn’t, as I said before, I owe Ms. Teschmacher a favor.” Clark’s league communicator went off, and he wanted to hit his head against something. At least Lena couldn’t hear the frequency it was set to, so he didn’t have to explain it. “Look, I’ve done this whole song and dance with Lex, and I have to say, I’m not interested in going through the same arguments with you. I have no interest in your money or your favors, or being a whitewasher type of reporter. I don’t write gossip or hearsay, which is quite frankly the only news you’ve generated. Lex is most likely going to hear about you sooner than later. The only input you have right now is if he hears about you from the classifieds or the front page.” Lois and Perry were rubbing off on him, he wouldn’t have considered suggesting this five years ago.

“What do you mean?”

“Release your own statement.” Clark had half a mind to crush the league communicator if it didn’t stop. He was trying to get there as fast as he could. “I’m not a society writer, and I frankly have no interest in sensational headlines, but if you set up your own interview and statements, you’ll be able to get quite a bit of public attention and Lex won’t be able to just shuffle you back into obscurity. You’ll also be able to control what information gets published so the first thing people hear about you isn’t some embarrassing spring break fling or whatever it is rich people do. That’s my advice to you.”

Lena tilted her head as she considered his words. “You really don’t care about the money, do you?”

“I had the option to play football professionally and chose to be a reporter in a city formerly run by the mob before Superman and the villains rolled in.” Clark pointed out as the Limo pulled in front of the Library. “Just think it over, I won’t be able to send anything until tomorrow’s evening edition.” He could probably talk copy into putting the classified ad in the morning paper, but Lex wasn’t likely to read that much of the paper. (And the Copy editor was a man even grumpier than Perry, who hated the idea of new technology.) “Thanks for the ride, Miss-“

“What’s your number?” Lena interrupted to ask him as he was getting out, and Clark handed her his card, it only had his desk phone on it.

“Welcome to Metropolis, Ms. Luthor. It’s a good city to call home.” He mimed tipping a hat before heading up the stairs and through the front door. Once the limo was gone, he quickly made his way back out and answered his League communicator.

“I’m here, what’s wrong?” He paused as for that long of the communicator going off, he just got a very terse response before Black Canary hung up. With an odd sense of unease, he headed to the Hall of Justice.

His arrival at Mount Justice was met with silence, Black Canary and Conner were looking at something on the screens, while M’gann was apparently arguing telepathically with J’onn.

“What’s wrong?”

“Two things, M’gann overstepping boundaries she had promised to keep, and the rest of the team is trapped on a sinking island.” Black Canary informed him. “What took you so long?”

“Clark Kent technically got kidnapped. Long story, I’ll tell you later.” Superman put a hand on Conner’s shoulder. “What do you need?”

“The Javelin they took is damaged, cabin’s intact thanks to Rocket, but it can’t take off, and it sounds like Robin and Kid Flash got separated.” Black Canary showed him the island’s location. “We’re in contact with Zatanna.”

“Alright, Superboy can get those two, I’ll patch up the javelin so we can get them all off the island safely. Anyone need immediate medical attention?”

“I think Batman does. He kinda got caught by a blast.” Zatanna reported. “Red Arrow and Artemis aren’t responding anymore.”

“On our way.” Neither J’onn or M’gann had moved. Superman decided to ignore it. “Sphere up for a trip?”

“Ready when you are.” Superboy shot a brief glance at M’gann and J’onn before having Sphere transform. Wolf quickly hopped aboard, and the four of them took off.

* * *

Artemis groaned as she came to. Her nose was squished against Red Arrow’s chest, and it took a minute to figure out which way was up.

Which was promptly rendered a moot point as Red Arrow woke up and jerked into a sitting position and sent the room into a spin when he hit her in the head.

At least he was able to get her hair out of the way when she lost the contents of her stomach.

“You have a concussion.” Was the oh so helpful diagnosis.

“No shit genius.” She snipped back, only for a whimper to leave her as the attempt to glare at him sent the room spinning again. “I don’t feel so good.” 

“Yeah, it’s not just your uniform that’s green right now.”

“What hit us?”

“... I don’t know. My last memory was checking in with Zatanna after everything started to blow up.” Red Arrow grimaced, raising his hand to his ear and trying his communicator. “Red Arrow to all points, Artemis and I are injured on ...” he glanced around. “Ah ... somewhere on the fifth basement level?” The walls had shifted. One had buckled completely.

There was no response.

Artemis blinked. “You’re injures?” Her words slurred.

“My arm’s bleeding a bit. Hurts.” Red Arrow pulled her up. “Let’s get you out of here. Stairs were close by.” 

“Us. Get us.” Artemis was going to be sick, again.

“Right.” Red Arrow guided her down the hall. “Keep talking, okay?”

“About what?”

“Anything, just need you to stay conscious.” 

“Why are you kissing my sister?”

“Because it seemed like a good idea, now that I’m not programmed and I know I wasn’t programmed to like her.” Red Arrowpulled her to what looked like a dead end. 

“Oh. It’s confusing. I don’t know who to be mad at if you break up... like, do I protect you or my sister?”

“Well, I would prefer not to fight you.” Red Arrow offered. “You and Wally are dating right?”

“Uh-huh. He’s fun to rile up.” Artemis stepped in a puddle. “Something’s leaking.”

“Yeah, Kaldur said the island’s sinking.” 

“That rhymed.” Artemis noted. “Why are you petting the wall?”

“Trying to get the door open. Retinal scanner?” A part of the wall popped open. 

“Maybe it’ll open for you, cause Cadmus...” Artemis had to throw up again as the world spun around. “I have a headache.” Her head was pulsing with her heartbeat.

“Access Granted, Guardian.”

“What?” Red Arrow froze.

“Red, the door’s not opening all the way.” Artemis pointed out. “I think there’s more water too.”

Up to their ankles, now, and it was coming in through the door.

Someone grabbed the door and yanked it open the rest of the way. 

Aqualad looked relieved to see them, and he picked her up so Red Arrow wasn’t dragging her up the stairs.

“Have you seen Robin or Kid Flash?” Aqualad asked.

“No. What did you think about Sparrow?” Artemis asked. 

“She’s got a concussion. I told her to keep talking.” Red Arrow explained.

“Cause I think he has a crush on Ladybug. He’s all protective of her.” Artemis ignored Red Arrow. It hurt her head to keep talking, maybe she could take a nap.

“Or they’re really close friends.” Aqualad offered. “How’d you get the door open?”

“Retinal scan. It called me Guardian.”

“We’ll figure it out once we’re out of here.” Aqualad promised. 

“I’m going to freak out about it in the meantime.” Red Arrow glanced back. “Artemis, keep talking.”

“I don’t wanna.” Someone else could talk, she wanted to go back to sleep. The flickering lights were awful as well.

“C’mon, you need to stay awake.”

“It hurts and everything spins.” Artemis placed her head on Aqualad’s shoulder. “Lemme sleep.”

“You can sleep when you get to the Javelin. Keep talking.” Aqualad annoyingly agreed with Red Arrow.

“Fine. Do you think Kwami’s are fairies? And Ladybug said she’d be able to create human life when she got stronger but right now she can only do the dolls, so like she thought she made Superboy on accident.” She closed her eyes as the world suddenly turned grey and wavy. It seemed to last for an eternity.

“What do think they are?” Aqualad’s voice brought her out of the fog. 

“What are what?” Artemis blinked. “I don’t feel so good. What hit me?”

“Artemis... do you remember what we were talking about?”

“We were talking?” She didn’t remember.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

Huh, the only thing she could think of was Red Arrow petting the wall. Artemis told them that.

“Right, let’s get you to a doctor.”

“So long as it’s not Doctor Fate.” Artemis muttered. “Is he even a doctor?”

“I think he technically predates all colleges.” Aqualad informed her.

“We’ve got a problem.” Red Arrow informed them. “The water’s rising, and there’s something in it. Wasn’t sure about the last bit, but ...” that’s when the lights flickered for the last time and everything went from bright white to red.

Artemis looked up, and blinked as she realized there was another problem. “Guys, either my vision is funny cause of the red light, or there’s something blocking the stairs.”

Red Arrow knocked an arrow and fired it up, the flare of light that came from the flare attached made Artemis whimper again. “Debris from the upper levels have caved in the stairwell, isn’t it supposed to be designed not to do that.”

Something hissed and splashed below them.

“I think I saw this in a horror movie once.” Artemis offered.

“I’m not going to get a full draw on my bow with this arm.” Red Arrow informed them.

“Let’s get Artemis secure up there, and then we’ll deal with that.” Kaldur started running up the stairs, and Artemis’ head, to her own horror, did not like that.

“Gonna hu-“ was as far as the warning got.

* * *

Superman landed next to the remains of the javelin as Superboy headed off to search the other side.. Zatanna was already doing her best at putting it back together, but it wasn’t going to fly without help. Rocketlooked relieved.

“Aqualad’s gone to look for Artemis and Red Arrow, Batman’s awake.” Rocket reported. 

“Alright, I’ll go after Aqualad and the other two. Zatanna, don’t worry about the engine.” Superman stopped to look in on Batman, who was already struggling to his feet. “Superboy is going to get Robin and Kid Flash, I’m going to help Aqualad. Anything I should know?” 

“Looks like aquatic weapons, we accidentally activated the lockdown measures. I’ll go through the data later.” Batman explained, and Superman nodded.

“Got it. Be right back.”

“Hurry, there might be more security that we don’t know about.”

Superman took off. Thankfully, this wasn’t a building completely coated in lead, just areas that were probably radioactive. He found the three in a flooding stairwell and it wasn’t that hard to get down there and start removing the debris to quickly make a hole for them to escape through.

Especially since there was something not quite right in the water below them. It looked like someone combined an eel and octopus with some rows of shark teeth for fun.

“Artemis has a concussion!” Aqualad passed her through as Red Arrow hit the thing with flare. “Red Arrow’s arm is injured.” Aqualad grabbed his friend, manipulating the water to act as a barrier. Superman helped him through, before Aqualad jumped through.

“Not a horror movie. Disaster movie.” Artemis said. 

“Yeah, with a twist of a superhero rescue.” Red Arrow crouched next to her. “Any other movies our lives resemble?”

“I’m thinking, don’t rush me.” Artemis said after a moment.

The creature hissed trying to get through the hole.

Superman scooped up Artemis and Red Arrow. “Aqualad-“ he started to say, only for the atlantean to hop on his back. “Hold on.”

He got them back to the Javelin which was mostly intact. Zatanna was looking annoyed at Batman, or at Robin, who hiding behind him. Robin was covered in mud, as was Kid Flash, while Superboy, Wolf and Sphere were only partially covered. “Everyone alright?”

“I think I have a concussion.” Artemis informed him. He did a quick X-ray and thankfully her skull wasn’t fractured and there wasn’t any bleeding in her brain he could see.

“Just covered in mud. There was a mudslide and it took the part of the building we were in- I guess the top couple of floors were for show.” Robin informed them. “Can we leave now?”

“You were gone for a while, what happened?” Superboy asked.

“Long story. Some of the experiments were loose on top of the island. And the building was cloaked.” 

“Let’s debrief at the Mountain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, look, I just, rewatched Young Justice again, and given what we know about season two, the whole failsafe episode was kinda concerning about M’gann’s control ... they just never addressed it again during season one. And they just dropped the whole, ‘Conner doesn’t like telepathy’ fairly quickly.
> 
> So J’onn is stepping in to do some actual Mentoring, and Black Canary is establishing boundaries which they should have done instead of leaving the kids with just Red Tornado, who admitted to being there to learn and was not much of a boundary setter.
> 
> So, yeah, with M’gann getting boundaries now, I hope to curtail her going too far dark side in the future. 
> 
> My muse tends to make me a liar, so no promises.


	12. ‘Til your hopes and your wishes come true

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got distracted by writing side stories, hope you all enjoy!

J’onn might have miscalculated how much training and supervision that M’gann actually needed. That was his mistake. But his sister had described M’gann as shy and responsible and he had been busy tracking a Martian scientist that had escaped to Earth and was known for experiments on White Martians. He hadn’t wanted to endanger M’gann and his Earth apartment was just not meant for two people. 

He’d thought it was a good idea for her to spend time with kids in training to be heroes like her and learn about Earth as he had by immersing himself in the culture. He had also forgotten his homesickness he’d had when he’d crash landed all those years ago.

He just hadn’t thought about the culture shock, and how lonely it could get with just one’s own thoughts after being surrounded by her family’s.

Of course M’gann would latch onto the team’s thoughts to substitute for her family’s. As excited as she was, she had gone through bouts of homesickness and though the team had tried to set boundaries themselves, they had done so in a conflicting manner and M’gann had done her best to comply while still trying to keep their thoughts as background noise, especially when she was lonely.

Which was why their minds had so quickly been influenced by hers during the simulation, as she had made herself a subconscious back door in order to keep them as background noise.

So it was J’onn’s fault that he hadn’t pushed any further as M’gann’s reaction to the situation had been to put herself on mental lockdown and he hadn’t pressed her because she’d been a little scared of him after he’d ‘killed’ her to get her to wake and J’onn had wanted to give her space.

And then there had been the League missions and the time hunting the fugitive and he had just not been present enough.

M’gann mentally lashed out at him, because she loved the team and Superboy and was terrified he was going to take them away, because they didn’t judge her for being a white Martian and that sort of acceptance was very rare especially on Mars.

And he was glad she had found acceptance here, but she was now in danger of becoming a danger to them if the boundaries weren’t set now.

Especially to Superboy, who had spent far too long being telepathically controlled and who didn’t have the mental shields necessary to protect his sense of self. She could very well end up undermining that, making him dependent on her, the same way Cadmus had purposefully done ... and it would be all the worse, because Superboy trusted her.

“No!” M’gann physically yelled, and J’onn quickly grabbed her into a hug.

She was so scared of losing them, she didn’t want to let go, J’onn understood that. 

But he also knew if she didn’t make this break now, it would not be good for her later, and he wasn’t going to let her go that route.

M’gann physically shook as she blocked her teammates, and the dolls, thoughts completely. He stopped her from cutting himself off, and gently lowered his own shields so she wouldn’t be completely alone. He’d be moving into the mountain for a while to help her with her control, which he should have done to begin with.

(He didn’t bring to her attention the odd block on her own memories of meeting Superboy’s mother, from what he could tell it was partially made by herself. He would have to ask Ladybug about it later.)

Of course, she almost unblocked those connections the moment her team came back injured, and he felt guilty stopping her from reaching out to check on them, but Artemis had a serious concussion and sometimes telepathy made those worse.

M’gann recoiled in horror at the memory of his own attempt to help a concussed human when he had first come to earth, and the aftermath.

She turned and fled to her room, and he let her go. 

“We may have to rethink the structure of the League and the Team.” J’onn looked to Black Canary.

“No way! We’re good as is!” Kid Flash objected.

“For the most part, yes.” Black Canary sighed. “Especially since most of you’ve been mentored for years prior to the creation of the team. And you all learn well together.”

“So then what’s the issue?” Robin asked.

“Blind spots.” Superman said, guiding Batman to a chair. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rocket demanded.

“You will defend each other, even if one of you technically commits a felony. But that means you aren’t setting boundaries for each other because you automatically assume that there’s a good reason for each other’s actions.” Black Canary explained. “It’s admirable, but very dangerous, especially if one of you ends up mind controlled, under a spell or possessed.”

“The team will continue to function, this just means you’ll have to have more training. Especially with Summer coming.” Batman spoke up. “We’ll still be working with you, not against you, you’re just ready to increase your training.”

“I’m spending most of the summer with Superman, though.”

“You will be on call for missions, mostly the ones to search for Speedy. I’ll technically be on vacation from the League.” Superman corrected. “We’ll work out the details later, right now, let’s debrief and get patched up, not necessarily in that order.”

“L-, Green Arrow.” The computer announced. Green Arrow immediately made a beeline to check on Artemis and Red Arrow. A doctor followed not far behind.

“You’re going to do the mother hen thing aren’t you?” Artemis grumbled.

“Yes I am. Especially since your mother threatened to kill me with my own bow.” Green Arrow informed her.

“It’s just a concussion. We didn’t get eaten!”

“What do you mean eaten?!” Green Arrow looked between them.

“Artemis, that’s going to make it worse.” Red Arrow sighed. “By the way, Retinal scanner identified me as Guardian, so that’s another lead for us.”

“With Cadmus under investigation, Guardian’s been busy, but that’s something to look at when we get that magic thing.” Green Arrow’s expression was one of barely hidden pain, and he cautious touched his two protégés shoulders. “You’re both alright?”

“We’re fine. Just a little battered.” Red Arrow assured him, showing him his arm.

“And some of us just got a mud bath, permission to get cleaned off before we do the debriefing?” Kid Flash asked.

“I want to analyze the mud later, so change into your spare uniforms.” Batman instructed.

“Right!”

“What do you want with mud?” Green Arrow asked. “Slow week in Gotham?”

“Don’t start you two.” Superman sighed. 

It wasn’t long before the kids were patched up, showered, debriefed and either sent home or sound asleep. J’onn said goodnight, though he heard Superman talk to Batman and Green Arrow.

“I have a quick question for you two, if you don’t mind.”

“If it’s some sort of interview for the Planet-“ and then the three were through the Zeta tube.

* * *

“Got kidnapped earlier, I think you two might have known her.” Superman explained as the exited the zeta tube in the Watchtower.

“Well that narrows it down.” Green Arrow rubbed at his eyes.

“Lena Luthor, younger sister to Lex.”

“She’s still alive?” Green Arrow was surprised.

“I have a file on her, but she’s technically his half-sister. A result of an affair Lionel had. It was hushed up, but it was pretty obvious she looked nothing like Mrs. Luthor. Lex had her sent away to boarding school not long after their parents deaths, kept her out of everything.” Batman answered.

“I honestly thought he killed her too.” Green Arrow still sounded surprised.

“It was never proved that Luthor was behind their deaths.” Batman corrected.

“It was also never proved that he wasn’t.” Green Arrow scoffed. “Not that anyone could blame him if he did, they weren’t the nicest people in the world.” Green Arrow explained. “Lionel and his wife were the type to throw a kid into the deep end and then beat them if they sank instead of swam.”

“... Somehow, none of that surprises me.” Superman sighed. It didn’t excuse anything, but it explained Luthor’s need to be in control of absolutely everything.

“You said she kidnapped you?”

“She wasn’t very good at it.” Superman noticed the looks. He explained about the favor he owed Eve Teschmacher and Lena’s attempts to bribe him. 

Green Arrow found it hilarious. “That’s... oh, I want to be a fly on the wall if Luthor ever learns about that.”

“I don’t, she’s too young.”

“Twenty one is legal.” Green Arrow offered. “Technically eighteen is legally safe, since the legal age fluctuates between states.”

“Sometimes I feel like I was raised on a different planet.” Superman sighed. Green Arrow just shrugged. He might have settled down since dating Black Canary, but he didn’t regret any of his one night stands.

“Need anything else?” Batman asked.

“I need to go dig up public records, at least I have a place to start. Thanks for your time.”

“Keep us posted, and if you do need to interview us for this, I can make up an excuse to be in Metropolis.” Batman suggested.

“Yeah, me too. Actually I might have a business meeting with LexCorp next month ... I need to check my schedule.” Green Arrow grimaced. “That’s going to be a mess.”

“Thanks.” Superman smiled. “Let me know if you need a rescue.”

“You’ll know, I’ll probably be jumping off the building. We never agree to any project but he keeps calling-” Green Arrow muttered. He froze. “Oh hell.”

“What?” Superman asked, concerned.

“I’m an idiot. Luthor’s known who I am this entire time. Probably knows who everyone is, Roy, both of them, knew all my passwords.” Green Arrow looked at them. “Only ones he might not know are any recent additions to the league and maybe the two of you. I bought the whole ‘alien named Kal-El’ bit and I haven’t changed it since you told me.” Green Arrow rubbed his eyes. “I didn’t even think.”

“That hasn’t been changed in our computers either, it’s a good secondary security measure. But Red Arrow wasn’t anywhere near the Hall until you brought him and then he kept his distance until he was brought in and used as a mole. I don’t know what Cadmus or the Light has, but our names haven’t been leaked. They might try to trace Superboy if they know he’s Conner Kent, but Red Arrow wasn’t interested in him save as a way to throw heat off himself. And I did think about that, especially after we were under their control. They didn’t bother with the computer save for the zeta tubes, no personnel files were accessed.” Batman pointed out. “So just your identity was compromised for sure.”

“Like you wouldn’t be in trouble if they cloned your kid.” Green Arrow pointed out, now defensive. 

That was probably the longest Batman and Green Arrow had been professional without Wonder Woman or Black Canary keeping them in check.

“That would be problematic for so many reasons.” Superman winced. Robin and Batman had been added to the fortress security within a few weeks of him meeting them, they (as well as Lois and Jimmy) had pretty much full access to it, and some of the weapons in there. He’d only just recently added Superboy and Ladybug. “I better go, thanks for the help.”

* * *

Lois was not sure what she expected from Madame Bustier, but after seeing her as a hippie she hadn’t expected the bun or the suit and it was a very odd feeling listening to this woman talk glowingly about her previous students. Though it was understandable and actually very professional, for a teacher not to badmouth her students. What was more interesting was Alya’s reactions to some of the things that her former teacher said.

“Marinette and Chloe had a very tense relationship of course, but Chloe was very demanding at that age, and Marinette was the only one that ever questioned her. It was good for both of them to have someone to give them a push to be better.” Bustier was saying, but Alya looked like she was going to break her phone if she squeezed any harder. “I always requested those two girls for my class, and I was glad when Marinette came out of her shell in the last two years, becoming class rep and a wonderful example to her classmates, even Chloe started to follow her example.” Alya was now doing deep breathing exercises as Bustier continued. “Ivan was a very sensitive and sweet boy despite his appearance and he did have a bad habit of letting his temper get the better him. I sent him to Damocles’s office because he was trying to punch Kim. It was a shock when he turned into Stoneheart!” 

Alya coughed and left the room to get some water. Which was probably a tactic to calm down. Lois couldn’t blame her, Alya had been there and all the other testimonies all agreed that Kim had purposefully riled up Ivan. But it also sounded like Bustier had only seen the end when Ivan was going to punch Kim, and therefore sent just Ivan to the principal’s office. Teachers weren’t omniscient or perfect, and Bustier sounded like a slightly more mature Rose, believing the best in everyone and giving her students a lot of second chances. 

“I know this will be a more painful question, but I do have to ask about Lila Rossi, she seems to be an outlier among your students?”

“Lila’s mother worked for the Italian Embassy and they moved every few years. I believe that the plan was for them to have her finish her education here in France, but Lila ... well, she thought she needed to tell stories for people to like her. She was a very sweet girl and very low maintenance compared to other students even with her made up ailments. Unfortunately Marinette didn’t like people that lied to her and she wouldn’t give Lila much leeway compared to the others. Or herself, but that’s understandable, Marinette had trouble explaining how she got lost in thought when designing, I had her once start designing ball gowns instead of taking notes and she didn’t notice the bell, when I got her attention she answered a question I asked at the beginning of class. She was embarrassed about that and tended to cover with saying the first thing that popped into her head. She outgrew that, thankfully, and just started admitting that she was distracted by a new idea- she has such an artistic temperament, and she’s doing very good in design!”

“Yes, but back to Lila Rossi?”

“Oh, well, Lila didn’t really understand why Marinette would never believe her. She claimed Marinette was jealous, though I think Lila was projecting her own emotions on Marinette. Anyway Lila and Chloe got into a fight, and Lila chose to retaliate against her by damaging the property of another student. I can’t tell you much more than that, but Lila was a young girl that just needed a bit more guidance.”

Lois nodded, then asked her what she thought about Ladybug, and got a fairly genetic wonderful role model line, and thanked her for her time. Lois found Alya outside listening to music, one hand in her bag gently gripping the doll inside. “We’ll go over the interview later, do you want to sit out on Damocles interview?”

“Yeah, I kinda went after him when I was akumatized for being biased and willing to suspend me for a week on Chloe’s word alone.” Alya paused. “Okay, so I did snoop through Chloe’s locker because I thought she was Ladybug-“

“But wasn’t she rescued from Stoneheart by Ladybug? You have clips of that on the Ladyblog?”

“I was fourteen and dumb.” Alya blushed. “I saw Chloe had a yo-yo and what looked like Ladybug’s costume and I got excited.”

“I know the feeling, but that’s the sort of impulse snooping that can get a reporter killed.” Lois had a feeling that wasn’t the only time Alya had jumped headfirst into a scoop. It was a bit hypocritical of her to say this, but given that Superman had been the only reason she hadn’t gotten killed by her impulse snooping into LexCorp and the other criminal organizations in Metropolis ... it might save Alya from a few near death experiences in the future. “Also, Chloe had a very good reason for freaking out on you for snooping. A year or so before you came to this school, a reporter hoping for dirt on the Borgeouise snuck into the school and went through her things. It’s why I had to agree to stay out of the Locker rooms and why there’s a security guard shadowing us.” Lois gestured to the man in question.

“How come no one told me that?!” Alya did a double take.

“They might not have known. Marinette apparently preferred to eat at home before you came to school and this happened over lunch so I imagine most students were too busy to notice.” Especially as the locker room was on the other side of the school from the lunchroom.

“Oh ... I’m not going to apologize to her though, she was a lot worse to everyone than they deserved.” Alya crossed her arms.

“You don’t have to.” Lois assured her. Given that Chloe had apparently tried to crash a train to engineer heroics, there might have been other things that had been swept under the rug by her father. Like the usual spoiled rich kid stuff. Either way, Chloe wasn’t the reason she was in France and while Lila was an interesting outlier in supposedly having willingly worked with Hawkmoth, her goal was to learn about Ladybug. Damocles was much the same as Bustier, speaking well of all the students.

He also had a stack of comics on one side of his desk. Lois was pretty sure that was his coping mechanism.

The rest of her interviews gained her no new information, but plenty of insight. The Mayor especially had been a goldmine of insight regarding the ban, and Lois was able to send the final draft of her article to Perry before she had to leave her hotel room. 

Alya came to help her to the airport and see her off. “I’m kinda sad you’re leaving, I really enjoyed learning from you.” Alya admitted.

“I enjoyed teaching you. You should consider coming to Metropolis for a semester and working at the Planet.” Lois encouraged. “It would be good for you to experience all types of journalism, as well as travel.”

“I’ll have to think about it, I want to, but ... I don’t want to leave Paris until Hawkmoth is behind bars.” Alya admitted.

“Fair enough.” Lois had half a mind to stay and continue to hunt information down on Hawkmoth, she thought there was a pattern, but she had to settle for sending a copy of her notes to Ladybug through the tip link that was attached to the Ladyblog. 

“I know I’m banned from matchmaking, but you might want to consider asking that guy out.” Alya flushed. “You don’t have to worry about a supervillain akumatizing either of you if it doesn’t go well.”

“I’m tempted.” Lois hugged Alya. “Be careful, you’re not bulletproof, and your life is worth more than a video, you can still write about what you saw.”

“I’ll try.” Alya admitted. She returned the hug and then Lois had to head to check in, as well as let Perry know she was on the way home.

Lois slept most of the way home. When she got off the plane she was ready to just head to her apartment and sleep some more. Or try to go over her notes again, she actually had a series of articles planned about Ladybug and her partner, she just needed to talk to Superman and get his opinion on everything.

“Car for Miss Lane?”

Lois blinked out of her mental planning to see Clark with a sign, waiting for her.

“Smallville? What are you doing here?”

“Perry sent me to pick you up. Got a staff meeting.” He explained as he lead the way to his car. “There’s been a few things you missed, Paper is on the seat.” He told her as he put her bags in his trunk.

Lois blinked at the Headline. “‘Spotlight on Powerful Women’?” Her article about Ladybug was there on the front page, as was an article about, “Lex Luthor has a sister?” How had she missed that?!

“Yes. And here’s how I found that out.” Clark told her the story. “She called and scheduled an interview with me. It was ... interesting. She kept flirting with me.”

“Clark, most of the women you interview are flirting with you. Are you just now noticing?” Lois was a little amused as Clark blinked at her in surprise before returning his attention to the road.

“Oh.” Was his response, and Lois smiled when she realized he hadn’t noticed.

“Clark, you’re six feet tall and you look like Bruce Wayne.” Lois had done a double take when she had realized that. They didn’t look exactly alike, but it was very much a prince and the pauper situation where if Clark wore contacts and one didn’t look too closely the two could probably fool a lot of people that they were the other. “A lot of women are attracted to that.” Including herself.

Lois had to use the paper to hide her reddening face as she realized that she most definitely had a type, and Clark was definitely in that category with Superman and Bruce Wayne.

Why did she have to realize this now?

“So what happened in Paris? Your article mentioned you got hit by an akuma, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, and it’s... I’m kinda worried about the Ladyblogger. She’s a wonderful girl, great instincts, but she’s so used to that miracle cure fixing everything.” Lois sighed. “As much as France is doing with being the best in mental health care, they’re all still suffering some trauma ... and there’s likely some people that are trapped in some bad situations that are too scared to leave ... a friend of hers just managed to get a restraining order against his father but was worried his father would come after him as an akuma.” Lois took a drink from the water bottle in the cup holder, he didn’t stop her. “And none of them want to leave because they all want to see Hawkmoth in chains. He’s got terrorism and slavery charges mounting. Even with Ladybug’s cure negating the physical damage, the city plans to sue him for emotional damages or whatever it’s called. Oh, and attempted Homicide for what Triumph did to Ladybug. The Mayor is stubbornly running to stay in office just so he can throw the book at him, though it’s not doing his health any favors.”

“I look forward to the articles.” Clark smiled at her before returning his gaze to the road.

At least he couldn’t hear the way her heart had definitely picked up speed. Which contrasted with the car as they hit traffic. Nothing spectacular according to the radio, just the usual rush hour fender bender.

“Wake me when we get there.” Lois reclined the seat and shifted so she wasn’t looking at him. 

“Sure thing Lois.” Clark started humming with the radio.

There were pros and cons if she askedClark out. The biggest problem was that she liked having him as a friend and colleague, he wasn’t as reliable as Superman but he was usually there when she needed him as a sounding board and if she dated him and it didn’t work out thatcould mess up everything. 

On the pro side, he was easy to talk to and she liked his parents and had already met them a few times. And she’d met and gotten along with his ex-girlfriend Lana Lang, so there weren’t any skeletons on that subject.

He hadn’t been one of the ones that had tried to talk her out of dating Superman ... actually, he’d been strangely quiet about it, but he’d brought her her favorite takeout after the breakup, offered his condolences that it hadn’t worked out, and then he’d left to work as the Daily Planet press liaison to the Justice League, which included going into space on occasion.

The times Clark had been around after that, he’d just seemed withdrawn and tired, and she’d been busy chasing other stories and (briefly) dating Bruce Wayne.

At some point she must have dozed off for a bit, because she woke up to him gently shaking her shoulder. The car was parked in a parking deck near the Planet.

“We’re here.” And once again he was giving her that smile. It was nice to wake up to, and she promptly ignored that particular thought.

“I forgot how much I hate time-zones.” Paris was at least six hours or so ahead of the US, her body was convinced she should be asleep now.

“No you don’t.” Clark chuckled. “You like traveling.”

“Not when I have to listen to Perry yell out new assignments while jet lagged and deal with Honey Dale having a hard time deciding if she wants the society page or the headlines.” Lois grumbled as she got up. At some point Clark had put his suit jacket on top of her. “Or have to do whatever ‘the building got hit by whatever ray and evacuate drill’.” She handed him his jacket.

“Those drills are important Lois, especiallyfor the new hires.” He reminded her as he pulled it on.

“Yeah ...” though how hard could followingeveryone else in the building be? The buddy system was pretty good safety measure. Lois closed the car door. “Hey, Clark?” She’d ask him now, there were a lot more pros to dating him than there were cons.

“Yes, Lois?” He was fumbling with a button.

“Wanna go get dinner sometime?” Lois asked before she over thought the situation anymore.

“Lois ... are you asking me out?” He looked at her in surprise. 

“Yes, Clark, I am.” Lois watched as he seemed to jump through several emotional hoops before he smiled.

“I’d like that.” He shifted slightly and Lois realized he had just tried to reach for her hand. 

As much as Lois wanted to tease him for suddenly being shy, she also found it extremely endearing. She grabbed his hand and tugged on it, “We’ll figure out the details later, we should get going before Perry actually starts yelling.”

“Right, I’ll follow your lead.”

Perry still yelled at them, of course. Somethings never changed.

* * *

Donna was nervous. Diana had managed to convince her mother that Donna would be alright if she went to the World of Men, and that Donna would benefit from it.

And it had been fun, as Diana had introduced her to ice cream and the place that she lived and the very nice landlady who knew that Diana wasn’t just an art restorer and it was wonderful!

The nerves were because she was going to meet the other apprentices and Diana was going to ask how to enroll her into school.

Her mother had made her a uniform based on Diana’s though it was a peplos with the top dyed red with gold embroidery and the skirt was blue with embroidered white stars. It had spells to protect her from harm, though those sorts of spells had limits. Her mother had promised her a better outfit once she had past her first year of apprenticeship.

Donna became even more nervous when she saw Wonder Woman’s (“Remember, call me by my Superhero handle in public.”) look of surprise at how many people were in the place. This was apparently not normal.

“Diana, welcome back!” Superman (she recognized the symbol) came up to them. “I hope your vacation was restful.”

“Very. Superman, may I introduce Donna, her alias will be Wonder Girl, my apprentice.”

“Nice to meet you.” Donna managed. Superman smiled at her. “Welcome, I hope you’ll enjoy your stay.”

“What’s going on?”

“Mentor and Student meeting. We made a few changes to how things were going- mentors can no longer do space missions unless specifically requested, and can no longer volunteer to cover other people’s shifts. There’s also the occasional sessions with Black Canary in her professional capacity.”

“That sounds reasonable. Anything else?”

“Cadmus is in trouble. There’s been multiple leaks, including exactly how and when they got my DNA for Superboy. They used two human DNA samples to stabilize him and that’s caused more trouble for Cadmus- they’re US based and one of the samples they used was stolen from the French Heroine Ladybug when she was a minor. She’s taken partial custody for Superboy, but she has no connection to the league otherwise.” Superman smiled. “You’ve missed a lot.” 

“Sounds like it. I’ll check up on the missed reports later.” Wonder Woman smiled back.

A boy that looked remarkably like Superman came up behind him. 

“Ah, Superboy, meet Wonder Girl.” Superman introduced them.

“... Hi.” Superboy nodded to her. “Are you joining the team, or just visiting?”

“I don’t know.” Donna admitted. Diana had left the choice up to her. She almost jumped when a giant Wolf came over to her with two dolls perched on its back. 

“That’s Wolf, he’s in charge of security.” Superboy introduced her, and Donna grinned when she was allowed to pet the giant wolf, who sniffed her. She had only heard of wolves, there were none on the island. “Those are my siblings, Littlebug and Chaton Noir.”

“Siblings?” Wonder Woman asked.

“Ladybug created them with her magic, and I’m her son, so, they’re my siblings.” 

Littlebug held up cookies, offering them to Donna and Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman smiled. “Thank you, Littlebug.”

The dolls waved as if to say ‘No problem.’ Though Chaton was looking at both of them oddly before they rode off rather quick.

“Red Arrow!” Superboy called to one of the archers in warning, and the dolls quickly changed the direction Wolf was going.

“What is their fascination with stealing arrows from me? They don’t try this with Artemis.” The archer came over.

“I have no idea.” Superboy then gestured to Donna. “This is Wonder Girl. Red Arrow helps us out on occasion, though he’s technically not part of the team.”

“Nice to meet you.” Red Arrow smiled. He had a bandage wrapped around his bicep. 

“I’m going to talk with Superman, to try and get caught up on the things I missed, why don’t you two show Wonder Girl around?” Wonder Woman suggested.

“No problem.”

“Alright-“ Superboy paused. “I hope you don’t mind helping me with my siblings first, something just got knocked over.”

Donna didn’t mind, as it put off talking to a crowd that now seemed to be arguing. The dolls and Wolf ended up leading them on a bit of a chase. Red Arrow and Superboy explained the mountain and the different rooms and a bit about themselves.

Both were clones, artificially made humans, Superboy had already been explained by Superman, and Red Arrow explained he was the clone of one human, Speedy.

“I’m technically on leave from the league so I can find him, Superboy is going to be able to help in a couple weeks. We’ve got a few leads.” Red Arrow explained, managing to catch Littlebug. Donna caught Chaton when Superboy made Wolf sit. Both dolls immediately started making odd noises.

“What do you mean you’re taking cookies to Zatanna? Oh.” Superboy glanced at Red Arrow who grimaced.

“Who’s Zatanna?” 

“A member of the team whose mentor is ... no longer able to be here.” Red Arrow looked apologetic. “It’s not our story to tell.”

Zatanna was in the library, with several books around her. She looked up in surprise when they entered. Chaton rushed forward, bringing her the cookies.

“Hi, I’m Wonder Girl. Nice to meet you.” Donna greeted. 

“Hi, I’m Zatanna.” She smiled, trying to hide one of the books and knocking another off the table in the process. Red Arrow scooped it up, still holding onto Littlebug.

“Breaking a possession?” Red Arrow read, and Zatanna looked a little guilty. “Your dad?” 

“Yeah, I can’t actually do anything, but it’s nice to think about.” Zatanna noticed Donna’s curiosity. “My Father is the current host to Dr. Fate and Fate isn’t letting him take the helmet off.” 

“Oh, that’s awful.” Donna wouldn’t want that to happen to her mother. “Do you want any help? I can’t do much magic, but I can help with the research?” 

“I’m not supposed to, Fate’s part of the league...” Zatanna hugged Chaton who had started purring.

“But having a backup plan wouldn’t be a bad idea, if there was an emergency that needed Fate separate from Zatara...” Red Arrow offered. “No one can fault you for having a contingency plan.”

“I’d back you up.” Superboy added. “You backed up me for looking for my mother, I owe you for that, even if we’re not supposed to do so.”

“Thanks, but I think I’ll run this by Batman and Black Canary before I go any farther.” Zatanna smiled. “So, you’re Wonder Girl, does that mean you’re from Themyscria? I thought there weren’t any children there?”

“Technically children of both genders are allowed on the island if they wash up from a shipwreck or plane crash, once they’re healed they are either returned to the world of men or if they’re female allowed to live on the island. But I’m a special case, my mother rescued me from a burning building here in man’s world, but when no one claimed me, she adopted me. Wonder Woman promised to help me find out anything about my birth family, and the world I technically came from.” Donna explained. “We don’t have a lot of clues though, mother isn’t good with locations in Man’s world, she thinks it was America but she’s not sure.”

“I might be able to help narrow it down.” Red Arrow offered. 

“Really?”

“Yeah, I have to wait to resume my search for Speedy, and I’m technically benched with my arm like this, so I need something to do.” Red Arrow smiled. “I’m guessing you’re not sure of your age either?”

“Wonder Woman said mother helped her either 13 or 14 years ago. There was a bit of time manipulation involved apparently.”

“I can work with that.” Red Arrow assured her. 

“I might be able to help narrow it down, too- think your mom will let you help Wonder Girl after we find Speedy?” Zatanna asked Superboy.

“Maybe. I’ll have to ask her. Cadmus is one thing, but Wonder Woman isn’t something we talked about.” 

The dolls shrugged, indicating they weren’t sure either.

Donna didn’t care. “Thank you!” She hugged Zatanna and Red Arrow, lifting them both.

Zatanna squeaked and Red Arrow started tapping her arm.

“Easy on the hugs.” Superboy pulled Zatanna out of her arms. “You’ve got super strength and they’re both regular humans.” 

“Oops!” Donna blushed as she let go. “Sorry!”

“It’s okay. But until you get a handle on your strength, restrict your hugs to Superboy, Aqualad and Miss Martian, they can handle it.” Red Arrow rubbed his ribs. “Also, if a friend is tapping your arm, it means you need to let go. Especially during sparing.”

“Right, and sorry about that.” Donna apologized again.

“No problem.” Red Arrow assured her with a smile. “We should probably get back to the others.”

“I’ll join you.” Zatanna put the books up. “Oh, and I figured a work around communicating with the dolls for the rest of us. Tel eht sllod kaeps!” 

Both dolls coughed. 

“Little brother carry me!” Littlebug demanded. Superboy smiled and picked her up.

“Thanks Zatanna!” Chaton purred. “Mama is going to be so surprised!”

“Right, just keep in mind the spell only lasts for a little while at a time, and will stop when I go to sleep.” Zatanna smiled as Chaton hugged her.

Chaton then turned to Donna. “Mama brought snacks last night! There’s a lot, not just cookies!” He listed the pastries and sweets as they left the main room.

Donna started to feel nervous as they headed back to the main room. “What if the others don’t like me?” 

“They’ll like you. Robin and Kid Flash will probably flirt with you, though, so just ignore it when they do.” Zatanna advised.

“And flirting is like courting, right?” Donna asked.

“Not quite, flirting is a way to gauge if someone’s interested in dating or courting.” Red Arrow explained, and then got the attention of the two atlanteans, who had moved to the side of the large group, as they returned to the room. “Aquaman, Aqualad, meet Wonder Girl.” 

“Ah, hello, I wasn’t aware Wonder Woman had a protégée.” Aquaman greeted her.

“She recently picked me as an apprentice. I’m excited to be working with everyone!” Donna looked at Aqualad. “If that’s okay with you? You’re the leader, right?”

“I am, and I would be honored to work with you. Have you met everyone else?”

“Ah, no, just Superman, Superboy, his siblings, Zatanna and Red Arrow.” Donna explained. “Wonder Woman is talking to Superman about what she’s missed.”

“I’ll go join them, then, it’s nice meeting you.” Aquaman smiled at her and gave a polite bow.

There was a yawn from Littlebug. “Not sleepy!”

“Uh-huh.” Superboy shook his head. “I’m going to go get them settled for their nap, Zatanna, if you want to pass me Chaton...” the other doll was curled up against Zatanna’s neck.

“I’ll go with you. I’m sorry, I really thought I could ...” Zatanna glanced around the room. Aqualad gently gripped her shoulder, and Donna had to resist the urge to hug her.

“Okay.” Superboy just nodded to them and left with Zatanna to put the dolls down for a nap.

Donna waved them off, turning back to the conversation, Red Arrow, thankfully had stayed with her.

“We’ll introduce you to the others.” Aqualad offered, and he and Red Arrow brought her over to where Batman was talking to the rest of the group. “Excuse me. We’ve got a new member. Wonder Girl, meet Robin, Kid Flash, Artemis, Miss Martian and Rocket. Their mentors are Batman, Flash, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter and Icon. Black Canary and Red Tornado help mentor the entire team.”

“Hi, it’s nice to meet all of you!” Donna smiled.

“Hi!” Robin grinned. “If you want a tour of the place, I’d be happy to give a private one-“ Kid Flash zoomed past him, making Robin’s cape go over his head, and he offered a tray of the pastries.

“Seriously?” Rocket was looking at Robin in surprise.

“Thanks.” Donna took a pastry from the tray. “Superboy and Red Arrow showed me around already!” Donna smiled. “Mostly because Chaton and Littlebug were running around and I helped catch them.” 

“They’re quite agile for dolls, I saw some of it on the security cameras.” Wonder Woman, Superman and Aquaman joined the group. “I’m going to need some help getting Wonder Girl registered for school, and I’m told the rules might be different?”

By the time they left, everything was mostly sorted and Superboy came back to see them off. Remembering the rules about hugs, Donna made sure to only hug Miss Martian, Aqualad, and Superboy, waving to the rest, much to the amusement of the adults.

Donna looked forward to working with the team. It was going to be fun.

* * *

Adrien was going to have a panic attack. He all but dove through Marinette’s trapdoor and detransformed. Marinette looked at him, shoved him into a black hooded sweatshirt and put a mask on him, before pulling on a Ladybug themed biker jacket, spotted mask and the Horse miraculous. She paused only to grab her phone and the dolls before she was pulling him through a portal and into someone’s sitting room.

She de transformed and grabbed him into a hug, which he collapsed into. “Breathe, Chat. I’ve got you.”

“What the- Ladybug?”

“Martha, I need a blanket.” Marinette instructed. “And can you watch Pik and Minimouse?”

“Of course dear.”

A heavy blanket was wrapped around him and he focused his attention on his lady’s hand running through his hair and Plagg’s purring like an old engine as he started to calm down.

He lost track of time for a bit, but finally he calmed down.

“Back with me, my kitty?” She asked.

“Yeah, sorry.” He didn’t move. He was safe in his Lady’s arms and he really didn’t want to leave them.

“What happened?”

“Na- My father’s assistant was stalking me. She even followed me to a job interview. Thankfully they listened when I told them about the restraining order, but she was waiting outside. I left out the backand found a place to transform to head to you.” He looked up. “Why is she stalking me? Why can’t they just leave me alone?” Once he would have done anything to have their attention. Now he desperately wanted them to just forget about him.

“We’ll figure it out. You don’t have any other appointments today?”

“No, that was the last one. Sorry, were you busy?” He’d only been thinking of himself, he hadn’t meant to interrupt her plans. Plagg stopped purring to yawn.

“Design block, actually, and I’m never too busy to help you.” She kissed him on the forehead.

“Thanks. Uh, where are we?” He got a good look at his surroundings. It was a very lived in space, the couch was a little threadbare.

“This is Superman’s family home. It’s a safe place. I made it a game for them to figure out my identity, do you want to do the same?”

“That actually sounds fun.” He reluctantly sat up. The blanket was actually a quilt, and he clumsily folded it up.

Marinette got up and straightened her jacket, before heading to the kitchen.

Adrien was about to follow when he spotted the pictures. Family pictures, parents and a son, everyone happy and close. Why couldn’t his have stayed like that?

A hand touched his shoulder and he looked to see the woman in the pictures.

“Sorry, you didn’t seem to hear me.” She smiled. “I’m Martha Kent, it’s nice to meet you, Chat Noir.”

“I’m sorry I dropped in like that I ...”

“It’s okay. We told Ladybug to drop in if she needed to for anything. That includes you, dear.” Martha promised.

“Thanks.” 

“Great! Got any cheese? Preferably runny.” Plagg demanded, ruining the moment.

“I think we still have some Brie and ricotta left over from the other night. Will that do?” She asked, taking the interruption in stride and leading the way to the kitchen.

“That’ll be fine.” Plagg followed and lit up as she brought out a wedge of Brie that was bigger than his usual small wedges of Camembert.

Adrien shook his head as Plagg immediately started eating the Brie. Kaalki sniffed in disdain at his manners, while Tikki was munching on a cookie.

Honeybee was showing Minimouse a series of drawings, while Pik was clinging to Marinette’s arm.

She was murmuring apologies for taking him out of her room so abruptly.

“Here you go dear.” A mug of hot chocolate was put in front of Adrien, as was a slice of cherry pie. Martha sat down across from them. “Jonathan will be in in a bit. It’s nice to meet everyone at last, Ladybug has been talking quite a bit about you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Adrien managed. “I’ll think up clues for my real name later.” The pie was good, and he thought he might cry.

“Don’t worry about it, this wasn’t the day Ladybug scheduled for your visit. She said your civilian schedules rarely matched up and since our family is aware, we’re more superhero business than civilian. And it sounds like you have had more attacks lately, which is not really a good time for discussion.” Martha frowned. “Have you considered mapping out the akumas and seeing if there’s a pattern?”

“The police and we have tried that.” Tikki informed her.

“She mentioned that, but that was when there had only been a comparatively few attacks. Now there’s been a larger amount, surely it will make easier.”

“But Startrain and Astrojet ...” Marinette started.

“Might be outliers that skew that data, Bugaboo.” Adrien perked up. He was good at numbers. Not Max-level good, but goodenough. “And there might be other outliers we don’t know about. Hawkmoth might have even been traveling for some of them, we know he’ll leave his lair if he feels confident in an akuma.”

Marinette’s head hit the table. Pik cuddling closer, and Tikki gently patting Marinette’s head. Adrien gently rubbed her back.

“It’s okay, you’re doing really well.” Tikki assured her chosen. “We know what to do now, and more information to make it easier! You can’t know everything!” She paused, the spot on her head glowing. “You’ve got a call!” 

Marinette transformed, pulling out her yo-yo and answering it, though she didn’t use the video screen. “Miss Martian? What’s wrong?” She listened for a moment and then sighed. “I see. I’m sorry, but I’m going to agree with your uncle on this. I assumed you and my son did have supervision and had established boundaries- I’m not upset with you!” Ladybug looked baffled as she glanced at him and Martha. “I’m sorry, but I still have to side with your uncle. You need boundaries, it’s not a bad thing!”

Adrien tapped her shoulder and she passed him the yo-yo. “Excuse me, my keen ears detect a damsel in distress.” He loved his Lady, but she was incredibly blunt on occasion, especially regarding rules. And it sounded like Miss Martian was looking to get around some rules regarding Superboy. Also, he wanted a distraction from his thoughts about his messed up family. “Hello, mademoiselle, Chat Noir here. We didn’t get a chance to meet before, I’m Ladybug’s partner.”

“Uh, hi?” Was the confused reaction.

“Tell me your problem, I might be able to help.” 

Ladybug just shrugged and stopped Minimouse from trying to steal cookies from the cookie jar.

“... My uncle doesn’t want me in Superboy’s room without supervision. Or using my telepathy to talk to him at school. We’ve been fine all this time and now he’s making all these rules!”

“What does Superboy think?”

“I don’t know, I’m not allowed to read his mind!”

“Have you asked him?” Adrien asked. He was pretty sure the answer was no.

“Well ...”

“Telepathy isn’t the only form of communication available to you, you need to ask Superboy what he’s thinking. From a human perspective, constantly having someone with you isn’t actually a good thing.” Adrien informed her.

“But he loves me, our thoughts sync so easily.” 

“Can he read all your thoughts in return, though?” Adrien asked. “Relationships need to be balanced. If one has more power over the other ... someone’s going to get hurt.” He moved to the living room.

“I wouldn’t hurt him! He’s the only one I love!”

“So you’re saying you have more power than he does.” Adrien thought quickly. “Do you listen when he says no?” 

“I thought you said you were going to help me?!”

“I am.” Adrien assured her. “We’ll skip the question for now. Is this your first time dating someone or have you had other partners?”

“First time dating, I wasn’t exactly popular on Mars.” She muttered. “I stayed at home a lot, and watched Earth TV.”

Adrien winced as that sounded familiar. Lonely kid latching onto the first person they met. He’d latched onto Ladybug without knowing her name.

“You’re just like me.” Adrien sighed. “I was kept away from making friends for years. The first time I was able to successfully get away was when I became Chat Noir for the first time. I slammed right into Ladybug and fell for her pretty quickly ... our powers exist to work in harmony, and I thought it meant we were destined to fall in love.” 

“But you are in love and together?”

“Yes, but we weren’t back then. We’re together now because we established boundaries. I didn’t have any experience with falling in love or dating save for what I watched on TV. And that’s what I copied.” Anime protagonists with love interests were often over the top, self-centered or slightly inappropriate at times when trying to woo people. Kagami had set him straight on that pretty fast, correcting the more problematic behavior. “But that’s not real. The only way we could get together was by talking and making rules- we each had to date at least two other people, and we couldn’t try to sabotage those relationships just to get through them faster. We had to talk about how we screwed up because we got jealous of others showing interest. We had to make plans for what would happen to the dolls if we died, as well as the possibility of one of us becoming akumatized. We’ve only just reconnected as civilians, so we’re working on new boundaries so we don’t slip up regarding our secret identities.” Adrien glanced back at Marinette. “The boundaries aren’t a punishment even though I’m sure it feels like it.”

“It still hurts.”

“I know. I was crushed when Ladybug said we couldn’t date right away. It will hurt for a while. So I’m going to send you my number. Call me if you need to talk.” His Baton number was sent pretty quickly. “And don’t be too upset with Ladybug, she’s pretty strict about rules, but she does like you.”

“Thanks.” She hung up pretty abruptly, but she probably needed time to think things over.

“Here you go!” He returned the yo-yo and Marinette dropped her transformation. Plagg was still working on the Brie wedge, Tikki was being held by Pik. “Hopefully I didn’t confuse her too much.”

“I don’t get why she was so upset, those rules are pretty reasonable?”

“She was used to not having her actions questioned.” Adrien pointed out. “Doesn’t sound like they had much supervision previously.”

“... You’re telling me that the League just let a bunch of teenagers live together without a chaperone?” Martha asked.

“Technically they did have a chaperone, Red Tornado. Who is an android and was staying with them to learn about humans ... okay, I should have asked more questions, but I didn’t know how...”

“You just had a teenager show up and call you mom. It’s okay that you didn’t try to immediately take control of his life. Clark was having a crisis from being cloned again, and was probably doing everything to avoid thinking about it, but I definitely have to question the other adults.” Martha looked annoyed. “We’ll figure that mess out later. I may have some words with Batman.”

Adrien jumped as the door opened and the man from the pictures walked in.

“Jonathan, Ladybug brought Chat Noir, Minimouse and Pik.” Martha introduced.

“Nice to meet you.” Jonathan smiled. “Everything alright?”

“Not really.” Adrien admitted. “I had a panic attack and had to get out of Paris.”

“Ah, stay as long as you need to. We’re happy to have you.” Jonathan reassured him, before looking at Honeybee and Minimouse’s drawings.

Adrien realized exactly why Marinette felt so comfortable with them. They were like her parents. Something nudged him, and he glanced down to see Pik trying to hide himself in the sweatshirt’s large pocket. Adrien gently helped him hide, and then turned back to the pie. Which now had bits of Brie on it.

“Plagg!”

“What? It makes it taste better!”

Marinette laughed as Tikki joined in on scolding an unrepentant Plagg.

Adrien could get used to this.

* * *

Lex arrived in Paris and resolved to buy out the river cruise company. No WiFi or even a business center, staff that didn’t know the difference between champagne and sparkling wine, and the most mediocre food he had ever eaten. 

Once he made the necessary changes, it would work well with his hotel. Due to restrictions there were minimal skyscrapers in Paris, so this one was much shorter than his preferred hotel design.

He checked into the penthouse suite. He’d analyzed the situation prior to his arrival. There were a couple tip links that went directly to Ladybug, one on the akuma alert app, and one on the so called ‘Ladyblog’. Since causing an akuma would bring too much attention to himself, and he’d like to avoid that as much as possible, he would send a message through the links in the morning.

Still, his first order of business was to get settled, he was exhausted from dealing with incompetence.

Luck was on his side, as the next day almost an hour after he sent the message on the links, Ladybug landed on the terrace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, now M’gann has boundaries, but there’s always a little issue with teens who were previously free range suddenly having restrictions placed on them.
> 
> Or, if they’re Chat Noir, going from a lot of restrictions as Adrien to having no restrictions and then learning how to set boundaries for oneself.
> 
> Both are good kids, just learning.
> 
> Next chapter: Lex has a very bad month, second only to the Arrow family.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Young Mother](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22593976) by Anonymous 
  * [SP: Adore You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23894419) by [Sar61_Sanz6](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sar61_Sanz6/pseuds/Sar61_Sanz6)
  * [Dolls At Play](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24059686) by [ChaoticNeutral](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticNeutral/pseuds/ChaoticNeutral)
  * [Adore You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24615199) by [Sar61_Sanz6](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sar61_Sanz6/pseuds/Sar61_Sanz6)




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